Niger Tornadoes’ continental odyssey has come to an end after the Nigeria National League side fell 5-4 on aggregate to Guinea side Santoba FC after the second leg of their CAF Confederation Cup ended in a 3-3 stalemate in Guinea on Friday, 23 August.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Tornadoes who suffered relegation from the Nigerian top-tier last season and only qualified for the competition by virtue of being losing finalists in the 2019 AITEO Cup against CAF Champions League bound Kano Pillars, needed a victory and to score at least two goals whilst keeping a clean sheet to progress to the next round.
With the 2019/2020 domestic season yet to kick off Ikon Allah played a couple of friendly games in Lagos in preparation for the tie.
They lost 1-2 to 36Lion FC and could only manage a 2-2 against MFM FC to send warning signals about the state of a defence that required a clean sheet to stand a chance of qualifying.
Those concerns proved well-founded and even though they scored the goals they required, they conceded three times to lose on aggregate and exit the competition at the first hurdle.
Three more Nigerian sides remain on the continent with Enyimba of Aba and Kano Pillars both in action in the CAF Champions League on Sunday against Rahimo FC and Asante Kotoko respectively.
Enugu Rangers will enter the CAF Confederation Cup after the conclusion of the preliminary round.
