It promises to be a tough battle in Ibadan today\u00a0 when Enyimba International FC\u00a0 takes on Rivers United for a place in the semi-final of the 2016\u00a0 Federation Cup.
\nThe two sides reached this stage of the cup competition in contrasting style.
\nUnited scored eight times in their opening two games of the competition against Papilo FC and Kaduna United before meeting a brick wall against Shooting Stars in the Round of 16.
\nRivers United required a penalty shoot out to eventually over-power 3SC after regulation time as the\u00a0 tie at Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna finished 0-0.
\nEnyimba also suffered a scare against lower-tier, Julius Atete FC in their, rescheduled round of 16 clash at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja before Ezekiel Bassey calmed jangling nerves with an opportunistic winner at the death.
\nUnited and Enyimba both suffered defeats at the weekend in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) on Sunday to Sunshine Stars and Plateau United respectively, but all that will count for nothing when the two giants go toe-to-toe today.
\nGoals have surprisingly been in short supply in clashes between these two sides but excitement levels have almost reached manic heights with no goals scored from open play in games involving Enyimba and Rivers United.
\nOn match day one of this season\u2019s NPFL season, Obomate Frederick\u2019s 66th minute free kick proved to be the difference as United shocked Enyimba 1-0 at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt.
\nEnyimba dominated the reverse fixture in Umuahia, but met the United goalkeeper Sunday Rotimi in inspired form as the game, one of the best in the NPFL this season, finished in a goalless draw.
\nToday, it promises to be yet another titanic battle with the stakes arguably higher than the two times they had met earlier this season.
\nEnyimba coach Paul Aigbogun said he expects a tough examination for his side in Ibadan.
\n\u201cThe game against Rivers United is going to be tough but then It\u2019s never easy when you get to the quarter finals (of\u00a0 a competition),\u201d he said.
\nRivers United boss Stanley Eguma also addressed the media ahead of the big game.
\n\u201cIt is always a big game when you play Enyimba. They are the only Nigerian club still left on the continent and we have a lot of respect for them,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cHowever, we are an ambitious club and we want to announce our arrival to the Nigerian football scene.
\n\u201cWe want to compensate our Governor and the people of Rivers State who have been solidly behind us all season.\u201d
\nThere can only be one winner today and the side that shows the greater desire will take the garlands at the end of the day in Ibadan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It promises to be a tough battle in Ibadan today\u00a0 when Enyimba International FC\u00a0 takes on Rivers United for a place in the semi-final of the 2016\u00a0 Federation Cup. The two sides reached this stage of the cup competition in contrasting style. United scored eight times in their opening two games of the competition against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/133577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}