New Delhi, Aug 28 - Defending champions India and favourites Syria will use Saturday's last round-robin match of the ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament for some sparring before their title showdown here at the Ambedkar Stadium Monday.

Unbeaten Syria are at the top of the heap with nine points from three matches while India have six from three. The tournament rules clearly state that in case of a tie the result between the tying teams will determine the passage to the final. Thus Friday's game between Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka, who had an outside chance of making the final on goal difference if they had won by a staggering margin, became inconsequential.

India and Syria need not stretch themselves in a bid to get to the top of the table and they might even rest their top guns Saturday so that they are fresh for the final.

Syrian coach Frazer Ibrahim said that he would be adopting a casual approach and wouldn't over stress his boys, who are on a three-match winning streak.

India coach Bob Houghton,too, might adopt the same strategy, though he might like to press for a third straight victory after being beaten by Lebanon in their opening game.

Skipper Bhaichung Bhutia and Steven Dias deserve rest as they both worked tirelessly to steer India into the final. Houghton's philosophy has been that Bhutia at 32 cannot be driven for 90 minutes match after match.

Dias has played a crucial part in providing Bhutia and Sunil Chettri with goal-bearing crosses. Dias is the man of the moment and he should be nursed carefully just as the two strikers if India have to repeat their 2007 final victory against the West Asian team.

The Englishman should have a harder look at reserve strikers like Sushil Singh and Abhishek Yadav keeping the Doha Asian Cup in mind.