East Bengal FC will be looking to make its return to the international arena after a long absence with a favourable result when it hosts Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FC Preliminary 1 tie of the AFC Champions League Two (ACL Two) at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.
East Bengal, which has not played in any continental club competition since the 2014-15 season, will be eager to prolong its international campaign by qualifying for the group league stage of the ACL Two.
The club’s fans will hope their team raises its performance to the required level under the guidance of Carles Cuadrat, the Spanish head coach who is rebuilding the side.
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“Clearly, we are the underdogs but we will fight and hope that the crowd helps us in our stadium. I am a very pragmatic coach and know what I am doing. Altyn Asyr was a very tough team for us when Bengaluru FC played them in 2018. They won 5-2 against us in two legs,” Cuadrat said.
“Plus this will be a first match for a lot of our players in an AFC competition and they have many players who have played over 20 games,” he added while looking back at his previous assignment as the Bengaluru FC coach when he met the same opponent in the inter-zonal semifinals of the AFC Cup (the very same tournament which is rechristened as ACL Two).
East Bengal FC head coach Carles Cuadrat (L) and player Nandhakumar Sekar interact with the media on the eve of their AFC Champions League 2 preliminary stage playoff match.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
East Bengal FC head coach Carles Cuadrat (L) and player Nandhakumar Sekar interact with the media on the eve of their AFC Champions League 2 preliminary stage playoff match.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
East Bengal, which has started the season winning both its Durand Cup group-stage matches, will be looking to continue the momentum against Altyn-Asyr. A win will definitely boost the Red and Golds spirit ahead of a long season.
Being runner-up in the Turkmenistan top-division League in 2023, Altyn-Asyr will be looking to bring up its best and find a place in the group stage.
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Altyn-Asyr has consistently performed well in the domestic league and the AFC tournaments in the past decade and boasts of a squad sourced completely from its national talent pool.
For East Bengal, it will be an opportunity to test its squad which is yet to complete its pre-season training.
“We know it will be a difficult test for us as we are meeting a team qualified for top competitions every season. It will be a good test for us to prove that we also have that kind of standard and can represent the country in a top competition like the ACL 2,” Cuadrat said.
The Spanish coach was not very certain on having his best combination, owing to the lack of pre-season training.
“We will bring our full squad later in the competition. We are probably not arriving at the best scenario for this match, because of some injuries and the lack of pre-season training.
“Even the transfer window is still open, but this happens in football. It doesn’t matter if we use three foreigners or four, but we need to try and achieve the best results in front of the challenge,” he added.
The presence of the likes of French play-maker Madih Talal, Greek striker Dimitrios Diamantakos, Spanish midfielder Saul Crespo and Brazilian Cleiton Silva, and Indian internationals Nandhakumar Sekar and Naorem Mahesh Singh makes East Bengal’s offensive line-up quite strong.
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But the absence of the Spanish defender Hector Yuste, who is held up by visa issues, will be bothering the host as it will have to depend on the form of the Jordanian centre-back Hijazi Maher and on the efficiency of its domestic defenders like Lalchungnunga, Mark Zothanpuia and Mohammed Rakip.
East Bengal defender Hijazi Maher looks on during the training on the eve of their AFC Champions League 2 preliminary round match against Altyn Asyr.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
East Bengal defender Hijazi Maher looks on during the training on the eve of their AFC Champions League 2 preliminary round match against Altyn Asyr.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
A loss here would mean that East Bengal will be falling to the third tier of the continental club competition and play in the AFC Challenge Cup.
“The good thing is that we have qualified for the group stages in Asia, whether we play in the ACL 2 or the AFC Challenge Cup. We need to be ready for this competition.
“If we can’t win this one, then we have another option to play in another Asian competition. The important thing is that East Bengal will fight for four trophies this season,” Cuadrat tried to find the perspective for his side.
The match is scheduled for a 7pm IST kick-off.
