Rivers United, alias Pride of Rivers, last Sunday played host to the Tanzanian champions in the first leg of quarterfinals at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, ending with Yanga cruising to a 2-0 victory.
Eguma disclosed during the pre-match interview that Rivers United is planning to work harder to make it to the semi-finals.
We are not relying on past performance, no two games are the same, Eguma stated.
The coach pointed out: I understand that Yanga has rebuilt its team and they are doing well this time around in the domestic league, they also topped their group in CAF Confederation Cup.
The Nigerian side currently sits third in Nigeria Premier Football League Group B with 23 points from 13 matches, with Lobi Stars leading the rest followed by second-placed Doma United.
Rivers United managed to edge famous teams such as Enyimba FC, Kwara United, and others to win the Nigeria Premier Football League's title in the 2021/2022 season.
Since Rivers United's establishment in 2016, the club has managed to qualify for the Group Stage of the CAF Champions League twice and, in the 2017 season, the squad made it to the first round before qualifying for the second round in the 2021/22 edition.
In the CAF Confederation Cup, Rivers United managed to enter the Group Stage in 2017 before qualifying for playoffs in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.
It should be remembered that Rivers United defeated Yanga in both legs of the 2021/22 CAF Champions League First Preliminary Round, winning 1-0 in either fixture.
The second leg of this season's CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal involving the two sides has been slated to take place at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Tanzania on April 30.
The overall winners in the two-leg last eight matches will proceed to the semi-finals of the second tier of African inter-club tournaments.
Yanga has put up an impressive performance recently to the extent of garnering the top place in the showdown's Group D standings.
The improved Jangwani Street-based squad managed to come out victorious in matches against one of the continental football giants, DR Congo's TP Mazembe, who lost to the former in home and away clashes.
Yanga thrashed TP Mazembe 3-1 at the former's stadium in Dar es Salaam and the Tanzanian outfit later cruised to a 1-0 victory over the DR Congo outfit in another tie played in Lubumbashi.
In the only duel that ended with Yanga losing, the squad was beaten 2-0 by Tunisia's US Monastir on the latter's home turf.
Yanga however did well in their three away encounters, notching a 1-1 draw with Mali's AS Real Bamako and later commanding the 1-0 win over TP Mazembe.
Cedric Kaze, Yanga's assistant coach, said they are taking the encounters against Rivers United seriously and they do not underestimate their opponents.
Our target is to do well and we respect all teams that have qualified for the stage. We will make sure we do well, Kaze insisted.
He pointed out that they will prepare their outfit accordingly, saying that Rivers United has changed and is not the same team they met in the 2021/22 season.




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