By John Egbokhan

The Teslim Balogun Stadium will be literally rocked to its foundation today when Enyimba confront Heartland in the final of the Federation Cup.

Dubbed the ‘Ultimate Oriental Battle’ by football fans, today’s high-profile match, which is billed to start at 4pm, sees two rival teams from the eastern part of Nigeria, coming against each other, to determine who become the champions of the oldest soccer competition in the country.

In its 66th edition this year, the competition, which has changed from the All Nigeria Governor’s Cup to the Challenge Cup, then to the Coca Cola FA Cup and now to the Federation Cup, might have lost some of its rich value over the years, still ranks as one of the most sought after trophies in the football calendar season.

Interestingly, one of today’s finalists, Enyimba have emerged as the most successful club since the competition was renamed Federation Cup in 2009 and would be hoping to win it again this year.

Their coach, Okey Emordi, who was in charge when they won their first Cup title in 2005, said last night that they were good for the title but added that they were going to face a stern test from their eternal rivals from the Owerri, Heartland.

“We are good for the Cup but it is going to come at a cost because we are facing a team who do not like losing to us. They are our brothers but also our rivals and in such a situation, you find out that things are bound to be very tough”, said Emordi.

Emordi, in his quest for victory, will hope his strikers, find their ranges in today’s explosive finale. He will be counting on the likes of David Tyavkase, who is their most experienced and most decorated player, Junior Osagie, another essential forward, in the star-littered Enyimba team and Uche Kalu, who has become one of the most influential players in the Aba-based side.

For Heartland, the chance to play in the final of the Fed Cup, has presented them another opportunity to  seal a place to play in next season’s CAF Confederation Cup. This fact is not lost on their Dutch Coach,  Lodewijk de Kruif, who however said that he was not under pressure going into today’s classic final against Enyimba.

“Of course, we came here to collect the cup otherwise it is no use coming over here. It is one game; it is a long road coming here. We did well in those roads, I tell you the beginning was difficult but after several games, the Federation Cup was becoming more important for us than anything else in the world because in the league it was a bit disappointing.

“When I came in the team was 13th on the log but we are 10th on the table now, so in the very early stage we already knew it was not possible for us to collect a continental ticket in the league. So we have to focus on the Federation Cup.

“I am not under any pressure; the pressure is playing good football. When we play good football we have a big chance to win the cup. There is no pressure for me, the only thing we do is to focus on the game, focus on the players and prepare them as well as we can for Sunday’s match”, added Coach de Kruif.

The likes of Super Eagles’ Chibuzor Okonkwo, Bassey Akpam, Daniel Akpeyi, Chinedu Efugh, Obinna Nwachukwu , Chibuzor Ozurumba and Batholomew Ibenegbu are the players who Coach Kruif will be banking on to win today’s match.