Marumo Gallants coach Sebastien Migne has said it was unfortunate to lose in Equatorial Guinea, but he says the team played well in their 2-1 first leg loss in the CAF Confederation Cup to Futuro Kings.
It was a disappointing weekend for South African teams in continental football, with AmaZulu losing 1-0 at home to Nyasa Big Bullets in the first leg of their CAF Champions League preliminary round tie.
Gallants played with a limited squad, and goalkeeper Washington Arubi only arrived in Equatorial Guinea hours before kick off.
“I’m very disappointed concerning my boys, because they did a good job, but we need to compose with Africa sometimes, and we concede a penalty, a strong penalty,” Migne said after the game.
“But we react well after, and unfortunately after we concede a second goal on setpieces, also with a small mistake with my goalkeeper, but we’re happy to play with him, because he just arrived some some minutes before the game.
“So we are still alive and there is a second leg, so we expect to work well to recover our fitness, and to be ready to compete well for for the next weekend.”
Arubi flew into Equatorial Guinea just hours before the kick off of the game.
“No, it was tough,” Arubi said.
“But at the end of the day, I had to do that because I am contracted to the team and the team really wanted me to be here.
“So I had to be strong and just go through with the journey, at least I managed to get here around 2 pm and I managed to play at 4 pm, and I’m not feeling anything, which means mentally and physically, I’m always on point.
“I want to thank the guys, their effort, the guys pushed today. Even though it was a tough game, and at least we managed to score an away goal, even though we lost, that was a good game.
“So already we are looking forward for the next game, which is on Saturday. And I promise that we’re gonna manage to bounce with the way the guys put the effort today, I’m seeing us going through to the next round.”
