Sporting trounce Dempo 3-0
May 28, 2005 23:01 IST
Sporting Clube de Goa's captain Dudu Omagbemi, ably supported by another
Nigerian Edeh Chidi, led from the front to thrash Federation Cup and
National Football League title winners Dempo Sports Club 3-0 to clinch the
ONGC Super Cup at the Corporation stadium in Kerala on Saturday.
Dudu, who scored 21 goals in the just-concluded NFL to bag the 'Best
player' and 'Best forward' awards, was in superb form as he struck in the
11th and 82nd minutes, while Chidi scored in the 24th minute to give a
deserving win to Sporting, who had finished runner-up in the NFL.
Handicapped by the absence of their main striker, Ranty Martins and four
other frontline players, Dempo, still hoping to complete a grand treble of
national titles this year by winning this prestigious event, could not
recover at any stage and had to suffer a severe onslaught from their
rivals.
The Dudu-Chidi combine, which scored 29 of Sporting's 46 goals in the NFL,
once again combined well to put their team in the driver's seat when Dudu,
judging a smart header from Chidi came up with a clean flick off his left
foot to seize the initiative.
Minutes later, it was Chidi's turn to collect a neat cross from Dudu and
the former performed the last act to perfection, beating Dempo's
custodian, Satish Kumar.
Trying hard to open their account, Dempo went on the attack in the second
half but erred very frequently at the all-important end with R C Prakash
being the 'culprit' at least on two such occasions.
Sporting increased the margin to 3-0 when Dudu came back to collect a long
ranger near the goalmouth as Satish failed to control the ball inside the
net.
The proceedings started under wet ground conditions and continuous
drizzle. Sporting, desperately needing to lift the Cup to forget their
defeat in the NFL, where they were leading the points table till the last
round, went on the offensive right from the start to unsettle Dempo.
Bibiano, who played an impressive supporting role, made some good passes
encouraging his strikers to time their shots.
After Dudu netted the opener, Dempo began building a strong defence to
deny further scoring opportunities and also went on the attack to level
the score.
However, Dempo's spirits were further dampened when Sporting soon scored
the second goal and despite Raju Singh, Rebelo, Miranda and their captain
Stanley Colaco trying hard, they could not break the rival defence.
A minute before the first half, Prakash almost scored for Dempo but the
striker's powerful hit was neatly collected by Sporting custodian, Felix
D'Souza.
Dudu and Chidi came with good attempts in the second half also, while
Dempo missed one more scoring opportunity when Prakash misjudged a cross
hit from Raju Singh in the 63rd minute.
Once Sporting scored their third goal, a tired-looking Dempo appeared to
have given up hope.
It is the first time that a sum of Rs.10 lakh was offered as prize money
for a one-off football match.
Kerala Governor, R L Bhatia, who was the chief guest, gave away the
awards. AIFF President, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and ONGC Chairman, Subhir
Raha were also present.
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