RAIA: Sporting Clube de Goa will resume their I-League 2 campaign when they take on SC Bengaluru at the Bangalore Football Stadium, on Sunday, at 3 pm.
After six games, Sporting Clube are third in the standings with 10 points, while their opponents are second with 12 points. FC Bengaluru United lead the standings with 16 points from seven matches.
Sporting Clube missed out on securing their third straight win when they went down 1-2 against Goan rivals Dempo SC on February 12. Since then, the league went into a break for the National Championship for the Santosh Trophy.
“After the break, the boys have really worked hard. All are doing well and are ready to go for this match against Bengaluru,” said Sporting Clube technical advisor and former international Climax Lawrence.
Four players were part of Goa’s team that fought against all odds and emerged runners-up in Arunachal Pradesh.
Goalkeeper Dylan da Silva, midfielder Dattaraj Gaonkar, defender Joel Colaco and striker Lloyd Cardozo played crucial roles for the state team.
However, Dattaraj and Lloyd, who discovered his goal-scoring form, are both ruled out as they have not recovered from their injuries.
Attacker Vidipt Dua is also sidelined after a knock in the Goa Professional League tie against Cortalim Villagers recently.
“It’s going to be very tough at Bengaluru’s home ground. They are playing attacking football. We have to just play our natural game and give our best in the 90 minutes,” said Climax.
Sporting Clube will then travel to face Sudeva Delhi FC on March 30, followed by another away game against Mumbai’s Kenkre FC on April 2, before returning home four days later to host FC Bengaluru United at Tilak Maidan, Vasco.
