Tyavkase: Lobi Stars Ready For Tough Wydad Casablanca Test

Lobi Stars forward  David Tyavkase insists the club will go all out for a win in Saturday’s CAF Champions League match day three encounter against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca, reports Completesports.com.

The Makurdi club started their group stage campaign with a hard fought 2-1 home win against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa but went down to a 1-0 away loss to Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosas on match day two.

A win against the tough North Africans will boost their chances of making it to the knockout round.

“During my stint with Enyimba, I never played against Wydad but I played against Raja Club Athletic of Morocco; and generally, we know what most teams from North Africa can do,” the 34-year-old Tyavkase said in an interview with CAFOnline.com.

“It is true that Wydad has so far shown good form in this competition but it’s up to us to stop them on Saturday in Enugu.”

Described as a ‘game changer’ by coach Solomon Ogbeide partly for Tyavkase’s ability to come off the bench to score vital goals for his side; aside his near to two decades experience playing at international levels for both club and country.

Tyavkase said Lobi Stars must be up and running in this weekend’s tie against their battle-hardened North African visitors with whom they contest for quarter final tickets in a seemingly tough Group A complete with ASEC Mimosas and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Incidentally, all the four teams have so far have identical results after they have each recorded just a win and and lost in previous two matches.

“We have to be very fit and alert throughout the match against Wydad,” noted Tyavkase, a former Nigerian international who won four (4) domestic league titles with Enyimba.

“From my experience, the first 45 minutes and 10 minutes into the second half are the most dangerous periods playing against any team from North Africa; and we must be very alert because Wydad will come hard on us.

“We need the three points from this encounter because any of the four teams in the group can go through; I believe we have the team that can play against the best on the continent.”

Tyavkase who had a brief stint with US Bitam of Gabon en route to Lobi Stars said the playing body will gird their loins against their Moroccan counterparts to keep their campaign alive.

“We want to win on Friday in order to be in good position before we travel for the second leg in Morocco,” noted the midfielder.

Meanwhile, in the other Group A tie billed for Friday, Mamelodi Sundowns hosts ost ASEC Mimosas at the Loftus Stadium in Pretoria as the competition reaches the half way mark.