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East Bengal were pitted against Indonesia’s Semen Padang at Thursday’s AFC Cup quarter-final draw and it received positive reaction from many players and supporters as the Kolkata club avoided a West Asian team in the last eight.
But their newly-appointed Brazilian head coach Marcos Falopa doesn’t believe his team’s task has got any easier and is expecting two tough games against the Indonesian outfit.
“There are no easy games in football and the standard at competitions like the AFC Cup is quite high now so it doesn’t matter whether you a play a team from the Middle East or South-East Asia. We will prepare for the quarter-finals with the knowledge that Semen Padang will be a tough opponent both home and away,” Falopa exclusively told Sportskeeda from Brazil just a few hours after the draw.
Citing the example of Japan’s performance in their narrow defeat to Italy in the Confederations Cup, Falopa added that he would have backed East Bengal to beat a West Asian opponent also.
“I have plenty of experience of coaching in various parts of the Middle East. I can tell you the standards are high there but anything is possible in football. The world saw how Japan played against Italy and they should have won the game. So there is no reason why East Bengal can’t match or beat teams from West Asia also but we need to prepare the right way,” he said.
During his time as the head coach of the Myanmar national team, Falopa faced Indonesia thrice, winning one and losing the other two with current Semen Padang skipper Ellie Aiboy also having played against the Brazilian’s Myanmar side.
The 64-year-old admitted that he has some knowledge about Indonesian football but believes he and his team would have to do some homework regarding the current setup at Semen Padang.
“Yes I have some idea about football in Indonesia as I faced them during my spell at Myanmar and watched their national team play also several times. Indonesia have plenty of talent and during my time with Myanmar they had a lot of skillful players.
“Of course that was five years ago so we have to find out more about the current Semen Padang team and prepare the right way. We will respect them but the most important thing will be to play in our own style and give our best,” he added.
Falopa is not too worried about the involvement of some of his players in the 2013 SAFF Cup
The AFC Cup quarter-finals, scheduled for September 17 and 24, are likely to be East Bengal’s first real competitive matches of the 2013-14 season as the start of the I-League would be delayed due to the Indian national team’s participation in the 2013 SAFF Cup in Nepal.
Due to the SAFF Cup, the national team is likely to have a two-week camp in Bangalore in mid-August, right after their away international friendly against Tajikistan. If that happens, Falopa could be without some key players during the pre-season and the Brazilian admitted that it would create a problem for his team’s preparations but he understands the importance of the national team.
“That would create a difficulty because we want to have the best possible preparation for not only the AFC Cup but the rest of the season also. However even other clubs in the AFC Cup and in the I-League will have some players representing their national team so we can’t be too worried about it. For every player its an honour to play for your country and you have to respect that,”Falopa.
Falopa, who has formerly coached Neymar‘s father Neymar da Silva Senior, also confirmed that he is in talks with the club about having a pre-season camp, which is likely to be held in Kalyani.
