Rivers United FC of Nigeria, on Sunday, completed a double victory over Young Africans of Tanzania to earn a place in the first round of the CAF TotalEnergies Champions League.

United defeated the visiting team 1-0 at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.

Rivers United technical adviser Stanley Eguma, after the CAF Champions second leg preliminary round tie, said it was a hard-earned victory.

“We beat them away, and everyone thought it was a pushover. But it was very obvious here that they are a very strong team. But after the away game, I knew that the second leg would be very tough,” said Eguma. “It was the reason we came back here to re-strategise. Our initial plan in the first half didn’t work. So, we had to change strategy in the second half when we discovered that they were playing more offensive.”

He added, “We have to seize the ball from them and had more ball possession before we were able to pierce their defence and get the lone goal in the 82nd minute.”

The 82nd-minute strike from Uche Onwuasonaya gave Rivers United a 1-0 win to progress 2-0 on aggregate.

Rivers United held a slim 1-0 advantage after the first leg encounter in Dar es Salam, but having won the first round ticket, the club would now face Sudanese giants, Al-Hilal.

(NAN)