Sporting strikers Chidi (top) and Dudu

New Delhi: Army XI coach Stanley Rozario knows full well that his team needs to keep Sporting Clube de Goa’s Nigerians in check if they are to have any chance of lifting the Durand Cup on Saturday.

Sporting are clearly the heavyweight team going into the championship match, thanks to the Nigerian trio ? strikers Dudu Omagbemi, Chidi Edeh and medio Adebeyo Adewusi.

Motivation should never be at a premium on an occasion like this, but Sporting will surely be eager to brush aside the disappointment of the Federation Cup final which Mahindra United won by a 120th-minute Jose Ramirez Barreto goal.

Sporting, it may be recalled, had finished second best (to Dempo) in the National Football League as well.

Sporting coach Clifford Chukuwama was confident of his team’s chances though he was worried over the finishing. “We are creating many chances but the strikers should not be so wasteful. Hopefully, they will play better in the final,” Chukuwama said.

Army XI, on the other hand, would like to do one better than in the 2002 edition when they went down to East Bengal.

“Dudu and Chidi are very dangerous players and we need to stop them. Bibiano Fernandes is also playing well,” the Army XI coach observed on Friday. “Their players, especially the foreigners, are more experienced, stronger and taller than us and we need to use our speed against them.”

(PTI)