Enyimba of Aba coach, Usman Abdallah has downplayed rising talk about his side standing a bright chance of winning this season’s edition of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), as he says it still too early to talk about taking the title, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although many pundits are of a view that The Peoples’ Elephant showed champions’ stuff in defeating Rivers United of Port Harcourt 1-0 in Thursday in Aba, Abdallah insists they can only start talking about who will be champions comes March 2020.
He, however, admitted how happy he was seeing Victor Mbaoma’s free-kick send his side up to second in the NPFL, following the lone goal victory over The Garden City side in a rescheduled game, which came on the back of the Aba club’s win of the same scoreline against FC San Pedro of Cote d’Ivoire in the CAF Confederations Cup on Sunday.
Mbaoma scored the only goal of the game in the 24th minutes to hand Enyimba their fourth win of the season and straight into second position on the log with 13 points, one behind the term’s long-standing leaders and 2017 champions, Plateau United of Jos.
However, speaking ahead of his side’s next fixture away to Akwa Starlets of Uyo this weekend, Abdallah insists he is not talking about retaining the title just yet, even as the defending champs from last season still have an outstanding game to prosecute.
Abdallah said during Mega Sports on Star 101.5 FM, Lagos: “We are happy with the victory and the three points, which take us to second on the table, but that is not to say we are already thinking of being champions again. Yes, we want to become champions again, but you cannot start talking about being champions in December. We have to wait till March to see how the league is going and where we stand before we can start talking about champions again.”
