Dreams FC were at their flowing best, especially in the first half, and they produced the quality moments in the game and in the end ran out comfortable winners in Kumasi.
John Antwi and Abdul Aziz Issah's goals were all the Believers to record their first victory of the competition having lost their first game to Club Africaine last week. Oyowah Young got a consolation for the visitors in the dying embers of the game.
Here are threel main talking points from the game.
Dreams can offer more than this
If you were to look at the goals alone, this may not seem like an overly convincing performance from Dreams FC. Abdul Karim Zito men are certainly capable of more, but they were easily the better side and could have gone up a couple of gears had they needed to.
Godfred Attuahene and Emmanuel Agyei controlled the tempo of the game in midfield, while John Antwi popped up menacingly between the lines and Johnson Oppong Owusu and Abdul Aziz Issah offered thrust out wide. There was a good variety to their attacks, although they will probably have to raise their game against when they play away from home.
Abdul Aziz Issah Was Unplayable
What a performance this was from Abdul Aziz Issah. Right from the start of the match, the young forward was simply unstoppable. That especially goes for his second half performance, as Issah looked like he could do anything he wanted.
Rivers defenders must have felt like they were in a nightmare at some points. Issah had a goal inside the second half, but he also pulled of dribbles and runs past his markers to constantly create problems for Rivers United.
This performance will be the one to show to everyone who thinks Issah is not as good as the Dreams fans believe he is. A special day indeed!
Rivers United don’t offer enough in attack
Rivers' defensive organization was good in the opening minutes of the game, making life difficult for the hosts. They had a few promising moments in attack in the first 10 minutes and got a goal in the process.
They did not offer much of a threat after the first quarter of the game, though, and they were unable to ask enough questions when the need arose. The Rivers players simply did not look comfortable when forced with the ball, and they struggled to turn possession into meaningful chances.
This is a team built to defend stoutly and break quickly on the counter-attack but they are unable to adjust when the scoreline forced a change in approach. Stanley Azunda Eguma's team will need to improve significantly in order to stake a claim in the competition.
