Nigeria will savour the 2020/2021 CAF Confederation Cup for a long time having two of the finest Clubs in the Country with historic rivalry paired against each other at the preliminary round in a bid to qualify to the group stage. 

Remarkably, Enyimba FC showed no love to Rivers United on Valentine's day 2021 beating the Pride of Rivers 1-0 in the first leg of what turned out to be an electrifying encounter that was almost marred by rainfall in the early minutes of the first half.

The match was suspended in the 9th minute due to the waterlogged turf at the Enyimba International Stadium but play was soon to resume and surely as expected we were served a delightful offering of Nigerian Football from two clubs at the top of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) table. 

The rain touted to be 'political' had little to do in stopping a classic display.

Both teams had all to play for in the return leg 7 days later but that will not come without some hindrance denying viewers from enjoying the very best of class from the two teams. 

It wasn't rain this time. As the Captain of the People's Elephant Austin Oladapo puts it, Poor Pitch quality at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, which saw United return the 1-0 Favour to the 8 times NPFL Champions after regulation time. 

Oladapo said; "The Pitch was not fantastic for us to display ourselves. We like playing good Football but unfortunately we could not pass the ball on the Pitch. 

"Most of our players were struggling. For instance, Anayo (Iwuala) wasn't in the game because he doesn't understand the pitch. Each time he tries to run with the ball, the ball goes the other way. We didn't enjoy the pitch. It's not a good Pitch unlike what we have in Aba. 

It won't be surprising that Oladapo echoed the thoughts of his Coach, Fatai Osho who believes the poor quality of the pitch prevented both teams from enjoying themselves footballicaly, thereby entertaining the world of fans who enjoyed the luxury of watching the match live on NTA and the NPFL.TV app since they were not allowed into the stadium due to covid-19 protocols as obtained in the country. 

Osho added; "The Pitch affected the flow of my team to a large extent.

"Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium is one of the best we can think of in Africa. A beauty to behold but then the Pitch is a complete letdown. It could be better than that.

"It's like you have a beautiful car and a very poor engine. That's how I see it.

"The management of that Stadium could do a lot better working on that pitch. It's not just us. Even Rivers United struggled to play. 

"When you go to a training session, return on matchday and are unable to express yourself, it becomes a problem. We actually struggled throughout the 90mins. We couldn't put our passes together and that's where we strive more. Unfortunately we couldn't do that on that Pitch."

On Resumption of the 2020/2021 NPFL Season, it was mandatory and compulsory that clubs were licensed by the League Management Company (LMC) and one item necessary for approval was a standard stadium for home matches. 

The government of Rivers State thereby approved the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium as the home ground of Rivers United as against its former home ground, the Yakubu Gowon stadium with an artificial turf. 

The Edifice is a 38,000 capacity Stadium built by the state government and opened on 19 July 2015 with a Nigeria Versus Congo Rio Olympics qualifier which ended 2-1 against the Congolese. 

Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Chairman of Enyimba FC and member of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Executive Committee expresses his dissatisfaction with the Pitch, which he believes may have blurred the vision of the National Team Coach, Gernot Rohr.

Anyansi-Agwu is of the opinion that the finest of football from home based players could not be seen that evening such that Rohr could discover talents whom he could select for the Super Eagles. 

"The standard of the pitch is nothing to write home about. That's not a grass pitch. That's the issue. The truth has to be told. 

"You cannot invite a national team Coach to come and watch a match in a place that's not prepared to take that kind of Football. 

"The Football standard wasn't that terrible but if it was on a better Pitch you could've seen the other side. The players (of Enyimba and Rivers United) would've been able to express themselves better. So, that's what I think would've happened to him (Rohr)."

Anyansi-Agwu is optimistic of a chance in the National Team for home based players and expresses that this way; 

"I'm sure by the time he goes to see other teams in a better environment, I'm sure there's no way he will not be able to see one Nigerian young player that he thinks should be either invited or added to the Super Eagles or U-23.

In may 2018, after  the Democratic Republic of Congo played out a 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles in a pre-World Cup friendly at the said stadium, Rohr described the pitch as difficult saying ''It was not easy, the pitch was not easy to play but it was for the two teams."

Rivers United, may not be unfamiliar with the pitch at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium.

In 2015, Rivers United, known as Dolphins then, dumped the Liberation Stadium to complete the remainder of their NPFL Season at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium located in Omagwa, the north end of Port Harcourt. 

Nonetheless, that can't be said of Ifeanyi Anaemena, Theophilus Afelokhai, Bobby Clement, Godwin Aguda and many others with the team now who were not part of that 2015 setup. 

Although Enyimba progressed ahead of Rivers United to the group stage of the competition after completing a 5-4 penalty shootout win over the home side, their calls for an improved pitch at the stadium is documented and should stir the attention of Rivers State government, owners and Management of the Edifice in the best interest of good Football and sportsmanship. 

At this point, it's Worth mentioning that the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium is yet to be totally completed, as some wings outside the main bowl have been left unattended to. 

What's worth doing is worth doing well, they say.