By Femi Solaja with agency report
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Nigerian clubs in CAF inter-club competitions.
While the duo of Enyimba FC and Akwa United FC qualified into the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup competition, Plateau United and MFM FC both failed in their bid to reach the money spinning group stage of the CAF Champions League.
They have now dropped into play-offs to enable them fight for places in the group stage of the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup.
MFM FC set the tone of mixed fortune on Friday with a scandalous 6-0 bashing by host, MC Algers of Algeria. The result made the slim 2-1 home win in the first leg at the Agege Stadium irrelevant.
On record, it was the same MC Alger that edged out Enugu Rangers 3-0 in 1976. They repeated same feat against Kwara United in 2007 with same score line. None was however as scandalous as the 6-0 walloping MFM FC received at the weekend.
The other Nigerian representative in the competition, Plateau United also crashed out on aggregate after they could only manage a 1-0 home win over Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia in Kano yesterday, The Tunisian club went through on 4-3 aggregate having won the first game in Sousse 4-2.
The result means that for the second year running, no Nigerian club side has played in the group phase of the elite club competition in the continent.
However, the duo of Enyimba FC and Akwa United gave Nigeria the ray of hope following their qualification into the next stage of the CAF Confederation Cup yesterday.
Enyimba edged out Energie FC of Benin Republic 5-2 on aggregate after 3-2 second-leg first round tie at the U.J. Esuene Stadium. The former African club champions had won the first leg 2-0 away in Cotonou last week.
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, made his debut for Enyimba against the Beninoise following his switch from FC IfeanyiUbah.
Abdulrahman Bashir, who was later substituted injured, and Chinonso Okonkwo were the scorers of  Enyimba’s goals. Enyimba got off to the perfect start as Bashir capitalised on an error by Energie keeper Sheyi Damilola and slotted into the net. The opening goal was to be Bashir’s only contribution as he went off injured and was replaced by Stephen Chukwude on six minutes.
Akwa United on the other hand survived into the next stage in penalty shoot out. After cancelling out the 1-0 defeat it suffered to end regulation time on 1-1 aggregate, the Promise Keepers romp through 3-2 on penalties.
