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Slender Lead
Photo Credit: Kingfisher East Bengal
Despite an unconvincing performance, East Bengal hold a slender lead going into the second leg and the fact that they didn’t concede an away goal could prove to be decisive in the two-legged tie.
The shadow of Trevor Morgan’s achievements still looms large on East Bengal’s current Brazilian coach Marcos Falopa, but at least the first leg win gave him a big result to kick-start his reign.
Like opponents Semen Padang, East Bengal are also on the verge of some history as they could become the first Indian club since Dempo to reach the AFC Cup semis.
The red-and-gold brigade were unbeaten away from home in the group stage, with one win and a couple of draws, but could afford to lose the second leg and still go through if they score and lose by a one-goal margin.
But one of the main reasons behind their impressive group stage under Morgan was the fact they always had an intention to win the game and that kind of an approach will be necessary in this return leg.
Despite the advantage from the first leg, Falopa has a massive problem in central midfield as following the injury to Cavin Lobo, Mehtab Hossain remains the only natural central midfielder in the squad.
The Brazilian surprisingly replaced Lobo with striker Baljit Sahni in the travelling squad, although he could have easily taken young Subodh Kumar.
As a result, the outcome of this leg and the tie overall could depend heavily on Falopa’s team selection as he will have to decide his midfield combination and also whether he should employ two strikers or just one upfront, something which he did in the final half hour of the first leg and that decision went in East Bengal’s favour.
However, to make things simpler, the Kolkata club could just try and keep scoring to make Semeng Padang’s task even tougher. East Bengal scored six in three away games of the group stage and opened the scoring in two of the matches with one of them ending in a goalless draw.
Falopa’s boys will be well aware that an early away goal will give them complete control of this tie.
Although history counts for nothing once the game starts, some East Bengal players will be aware how Indonesia has been the sight of a couple of big Indian football achievements.
India’s last gold medal in the Asian Games came back in 1962 at Jakarta while East Bengal famously lifted the ASEAN Trophy ten years ago in the same city, and they defeated a couple of Indonesian clubs on their way to the title.
Two of the current players, Alvito D’Cunha and Shylo Malswamtluanga were part of that ASEAN team, and their experience will be priceless.
In fact, if East Bengal have an edge over Semen Padang, it’s on the experience front as goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal and Joaquim Abranches have also played in the AFC Cup semis.
On paper though, Semen Padang are the slight favourites and Falopa possibly did the right thing by admitting it ahead of the match as it could take some of the pressure away from his side, as the expectations within the squad might have further increased after the first leg.
Morgan is still missed by the East Bengal faithful, but 64-year-old Falopa could become the new darling of the club’s enormous fanbase if he can guide them to the semi-finals.
Form Guide
Semen Padang: WWWDL
The first leg was only their second loss in 24 matches in all competitions and first in this season’s AFC Cup. Semen Padang have been near perfect at home though, having won 12 of their 13 matches in all competitions.
East Bengal: LWWWW
East Bengal have an impressive away record in this calendar year with just one defeat in seven matches outside Kolkata. The red-and-gold brigade has only lost by two or more goals only twice in the last 17 months.
