CAF Champions League| Why Enyimba lost to Zamalek

Enyimba fired blanks against Zamalek

Enyimba International started their campaign in the CAF Champions League Group stage on a losing note over the weekend and that was not the kind of start many had wanted from the reigning Nigeria League champions.
Bassem Morsy got the only goal for Zamalek on Sunday as the Egyptians smiled back home with all three points on offer in Port Harcourt while their hosts were left empty-handed.

While excuses many as they are cannot turn around the result on the ground, it is not out of place to look at some factors that may have militated against the Peoples’ Elephant who failed to deliver in the opening day of action in the group phase of the continent’s biggest club competition.
FCNaija.com examines some reasons why Enyimba may have failed in their first test but submits that it is still early days to write off the two-time African champions who next face early Group B leaders, Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria.
Home away from home  
The Aba International stadium has been a fortress for Enyimba where they usually enjoy maximum support from their passionate fans each time they face local or continental foes.
Enyimba have however been denied that luxury with the ongoing construction at their traditional home ground. Despite even throwing the gates open for the game against Zamalek in Port Harcourt, it was only a handful of fans that showed up to watch the match.  Been on the road all season has done more harm than good for the Peoples’ Elephant who are at the moment keen to return to the Aba International Stadium where they instil fear in any visiting team.
Rainy game & waterlogged pitch:
The Garden City of Port Harcourt recorded heavy downpour on match day on Sunday.
The development resulted in a delay in kickoff of the game and when it finally did, the pitch at the Adokiye Amasieamaka Stadium was not in its best element as it was waterlogged.
Known for their free-flowing passing game, Enyimba could not string passes together same way for their opponents. As rightly put by the Enyimba coach, Paul Aigbogun; a rainy game is anybody’s game and on Sunday it turned to be the visitors that carried the day with their early strike in the first half
Zamalek right tactics: The away win by Zamalek cannot be attributed to sheer luck as it was obvious that the Egyptian came with the tactics to curtail the advances of Enyimba and hit back when opportunities presented themselves. This was perfectly done by Coach men who did well to guide a 7^th minute lead till the end of the match despite the higher possession and more attempts at goal recorded by Enyimba.

Ill-luck
With greater possession and far more attempts at goal, Enyimba’s inability to score at least a goal against Zamalek on Sunday could be ‘superstitiously’ blamed on ill-luck.
In his post-match assessment, Enyimba Coach Paul Aigbogun submitted that his players did perform well and the only drawback was not scoring.
“I think we even played better against Zamalek than we did against Etoile when we scored three goals , it was just not our day, I will not totally blame by striker, we were just unlucky in this game” He said.