Four-time Federation Cup champions, Enyimba, will be seeking their sixth appearance in the final of the competition when they battle Nasarawa United at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan on Saturday (today).
The winners of Saturday’s encounter will face IfeanyiUbah, who beat Crown 2-1 in the first semifinal, in the final, which date will be announced later. The champions of the Federation Cup will represent Nigeria in the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup alongside Wikki Tourists.
Enyimba struggled throughout the just-concluded Premier League season, finishing 10th in the table and missing out on an automatic continental qualification. They also crashed out of the CAF Champions League in the group stages – after finishing last in their three-team group.
The Aba outfit are seeking an immediate return to the continent next season and to achieve that, they will have to scale through the Nasarawa hurdle on Saturday before seeking a win against Ifenayi Ubah.
Enyimba, who have played in the final five times, have won the Federation Cup four times – 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2014 – while Nasarawa have yet to win the trophy. Enyimba lost the 2011 final to Heatland. The Solid Miners finished 11th in the league and will also be seeking a continental appearance after crashing out of the Confederation Cup in the first round this year.
Goalkeeper of the seven-time league champions, Theophilus Afelokhai, told our correspondent that the match is very important to him because he is seeking his first Federation Cup title with Enyimba.
“I am currently focused on the match against Nasarawa United. That match is very important to me because it tells me that I am a step away from winning my first trophy at Enyimba and also my first Federation Cup title,” he said.
“Winning the trophy will be compensation to me and the team’s fans because we didn’t really have a good season. It is a season we want to forget because our aims didn’t go as planned. The Federation Cup is a trophy I have aimed at winning for a while now because I didn’t win it with Kano Pillars.
“I won four league titles with Pillars so that is the reason I am going to give it my all on Saturday against Nasarawa. After beating them, we can then talk of IfeanyiUbah.”
But Alloy Agu, who is an assistant coach with Nasarawa, believes his side will carry the day in the fixture.
“We hope to overcome the hurdle as well as perform better than we did last year by getting into the final of the Federation Cup. That is an important task staring us right on the face and we are positive to get into the final after Saturday’s proceeding against Enyimba,” he told Supersport.
“Definitely, it will not be easy against Enyimba, who happen to be one of the best teams in Nigeria and have achieved more honours than any other team in the land.
“However, the Cup semifinal is very interesting and crucial for both sides as the teams will try to launch themselves on the African scene through the platform of the competition. That’s certain to make the clash entertaining to the fans but we hope to overcome the daunting task and head into the final at the expense of Enyimba.”
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