By Gbenga Adeleye
Former Enyimba Int’l of Aba defensive strong man, Ike ThankGod has backed the People’s Elephant to make it to the Group Stage of this year’s CAF Champions League at the expense of Al Merrikh SC of Sudan.
The People’s Elephant are away to El Merrikh in the first leg final round of qualifiers on Wednesday after overcoming Rahimo FC of Burkina Faso 2-1 on aggregate in the preliminary round game a fourth ago.
The winner of this stage will progress to the CAF Champions League group stage while the losing team will drop to the CAF Confederation Cup playoff round.
ThankGod in a chat with FreeKickNaija over the weekend revealed that Enyimba has showed hunger and the right mentality of making it to the group stage.
“The way Enyimba has approached this competition shows their hunger for success despite the absent of active football league season in the country.
“Credit must go to the management and players for their professional conduct and focus to making the country proud on the continent.
“Let me quickly say this, playing against El Merrikh in Sudan, the team must be 200% focused because the Sudanese side are not minors on the continent. “Playing El Merrikh, you must be ready and well disciplined from the blast of the whistle till the end. They (Merrihk) are a very compact side and difficult to break especially when playing on home soil.
“Enyimba must fight to the end in Sudan to achieve this fit of making it to the group stage. With the set of players in their fold, am confident they will make it to the group stage,” said the former Fanja FC of Oman player.
