A 45-man contingent of Plateau United FC of Jos has departed for Dar Es Salaam to face Simba SC of Tanzania.
This is for the return leg of the first round of the preliminary fixtures of the CAF Champions League on Sunday. Mr. Albert Dakup, the club’s Media Officer disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Jos.
According to Dakup, the contingent included 20 players , technical crew, management and other key stakeholders.
He added that the contingent was led by the Plateau Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Victor Lapang. “The team will begin their journey from Abuja where they are expected to board a flight to Lagos from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
“From Lagos the team will take another flight to Tanzania, through Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian airline,” he said. Dakup said notable among the players that made the trip is its captain, Golbe Elisha, who did not feature in the first match and Akila Jesse in addition to 17 other players that played the first leg.
He, however, said that Bernard Ovoke failed to make the trip due to an undisclosed illness while goalkeeper Chinedu Anozie is still out due to a finger injury he sustained some weeks back.
The Lalong boys who lost the first leg tie 1-0 in Jos, will have an uphill task in overturning the deficit against the Simba side who are the Tanzanian premier league Champions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team need at least a two- goal victory without conceding any to overturn the result and qualify for the second round of the preliminary fixtures. The winner of the tie over two legs will face either Platinum Stars of South Africa or Costa Du Sol of Angola.