Friday, May 5
•Petro de Luanda (Angola) Vs Al Ahly (Egypt), 4pm
•City Oilers (Uganda) Vs CFV Beira (Mozambique), 7:30pm
Table:
- Petro De Luanda 🇦🇴 4-0
- Al Ahly 🇪🇬 3-0
- CFV Beira 🇲🇿 2-2
- Cape Town Tigers 🇿🇦 2-2
- SLAC 🇬🇳 1-3
- City Oilers 🇺🇬 0-3
(Wins-losses)
City Oilers are in a must-win situation when they take on Mozambique side Ferroviario da Beira in their fourth game at the ongoing Basketball Africa League.
The Oilers have lost their three games in the Nile Conference group but they can still progress if they win their remaining two games against Beira (Friday) and Cape Town (Saturday).
The top four teams will qualify for the Playoffs round that will be played in Kigali, Rwanda.
And Petro De Luanda has already sealed the first ticket after winning their four opening games.
For Oilers, they lost to Luanda 71-89 before falling 70-72 to hosts Al Ahly, two teams better than them in the pecking order.
But the 68-96 defeat against Guinean side SLAC was a shocking result, and it reduced the side’s qualification chances by a mile.
“We have been trying (to prepare) mentally, we have had numerous sessions with players one on one just preparing them mentally to be ready,” said Oilers coach Mande Juruni.
“We have watched film for the last game and we saw many mistakes which we made and they are correctable. After the sessions and the talks we had, I feel good about the mood, the players had their only meeting as well, we have done everything possible to prepare ourselves well for the game.”
Oilers beat Beira 88-72 in the Elite 16 (BAL Qualifiers) last year in November in South Africa and will be backing their chances to win again.
“These are teams which we are very familiar with having played them in the last qualifiers to get here but this is a different stage and we are in a position where we can’t mess up.
“We have to win to keep ourselves alive we understand what is ahead of us and we want to focus on what we need to do to make us win the game.”
The Oilers have struggled with team chemistry throughout the tournament while their defence has been very porous.
They have to quickly get out of the blocks and be quick on offense if they are to cause Beira all sorts of problems.
Probable Lineups
City Oilers – James Justice, Germaine Roebuck, Falando Jones, Titus Lual, William Ngor Barnaba
CFV Beira – Will Perry, Najael Young, Bourama Sidine, Makhtar Gueye, Ismael Sousa Nurmamade
