Nigeria's Caf Champions League representatives, Sunshine Stars have stated that they would be motivated to beat Al Ahly of Egypt in the semi final of the competition in the first week of October.
Media already speculated a tie with Tout Puissant (TP) Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 4 encounter but the 2009 and 2010 champion's shock 1-0 loss to Ghana's Berekum Chelsea on Sunday in Accra altered that.
Mazembe will entertain Esperance of Tunisia in a repeat of the final clash of the 2010 edition which the East African side won 5-0 on aggregate.
Sunshine got to the semi final of the Caf Confederations Cup last season before bowing out to Club Africain of Tunisia but in a chat with Executive Director, Ondo State Football Agency(OSFA), Mike Idoko told Goal.com that the Akure Gunners are happy to face the North African side and that their dark horse status going into the match would only help to lessen the expectations and burdens on the team ahead of the match.
Idoko affirmed that Sunshine has a complete dossier of their opponents and this would be unleashed on Ahly when they visit Nigeria for the first leg on October 7th.
"We are happy at the choice of Al Ahly and they are a side we know too well having studied them. We are not losing sleep over their choice and the fact that we are the underdogs of the two teams will only motivate us to do everything in our reach to counter and neutralise their potency when we meet them at Ijebu Ode before the second leg fixture in Cairo," Idoko said.
"We cannot be afraid of Ahly because my team has greatly improved since we lost our first game against Esperance. We know what is expected of us and that we are going to do on that day.
"Yes Ahly is a strong side, but Sunshine Stars is on a high this season and we will take our form to the semi finals and hope for the best in the two legs.
Sunshine came second in Group A behind Esperance of Tunisia with 6 points from possible 12 while the Tunisian side claimed top spot with three more points than the Nigerians.
The Akure Gunners' foes came top in the other Group with 11 points while TP Mazembe are second with a point less.
The first leg of the semi final fixtures hold in the weekend of 5th-7th October, 2012 while the second leg ties are fixed for a fortnight later.
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