Former Super Eagles Goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph has blasted the League Management Company (LMC) for the failure of Nigerian Clubs in the CAF Champions League.
Rivers United were humbled by Wydad Casablanca 6-0 in Morocco, while Plateau United lost 1-0 to Esperance despite both teams securing first leg wins.
In consequence, both teams were dropped to the CAF Confederation Cup, a competition Kwara United – another NPFL team, were knocked out from and by another North African team; RS Berkane.
Dosu believes that lack of competitive football is the reason why Nigerian clubs performed woefully and has laid the blame at the feet of the LMC for not yet commencing the League in time.
‘ The North African clubs have the advantage because they are already well into their league season and are in better, physical shape than our Teams,’ Dosu explained.
“The question we should ask ourselves is, why do we start our league late. Almost all African countries started their leagues before the Champions League and Nigeria is yet to pick a date for the commencement of the competition. It is a shame.
“If you look at all the north African clubs, they have played more than 10 matches in their various leagues before playing CAF tourneys, so, tell me how can we defeat them when our clubs are not playing competitive league matches?”
Rivers United and Plateau United still have one more round to navigate to make the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup, but will have to do so against El Nasr and Al Akhder respectively.
