Churchill looking for IFA Shield repeat vs Bagan

While the Churchill players seemed calmly confident,spending the evening before their big match discovering the streets of Old Delhi,or watching TV,the business end had already been taken care of early in the morning. After a brainstorming session,it was decided that man-to-marking,especially of Bagan’s successful strikers Jose Ramirez Barreto and Chidi Edeh,was going to be the main focus of coach Carlos Pereira’s defenders on Tuesday.

“So far we’ve been concentrating more on the ball,but the coach has told us to follow the men on the field in the final. The idea is not to overcrowd the box and block the goal but to disallow their strikers possession inside the box because they’ve scored from the minutest of gaps in this tournament,” right-back Naoba said.

The Bagan footballers,in contrast,were only accessible during the practice session,avoiding questions both about their historical command over the Durand Cup — most final appearances (27),most titles (16) — and about the fact that they haven’t won in nine years,though,it’s another matter that they haven’t participated in the tournament for the past four editions.

Coach Karim Bencherifa said Bagan would do what they know best,and not worry about individual players in the opposition — not even the feared Odafa. “By stopping Odafa,we will not be able to stop Churchill. Dipak (Mondol) and Rakesh (Masih) need to track him down but forwards Barreto and Chidi will have a more crucial role in stopping Odafa — by scoring goals. “A win is more important for us because nobody remembers the runners-up,” Bencherifa said.