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#3 A successful pre-season
I-League clubs always looked inferior to the cash rich ISL sides in terms of first team quality but the Kolkata giants, East Bengal proved everybody wrong by registering two comprehensive wins over the ISL franchises in their pre-season games.
East Bengal got off to a good start with a 1-1 draw with ISL newcomers Bengaluru FC. However, they suffered a 3-1 defeat in the twin friendly. East Bengal then suffered another defeat to FC Pune City before ending up with two wins over FC Goa and ISL debutants Jamshedpur FC by a scoreline of 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.
The positive end to a competitive pre-season campaign will surely leave a positive impact on the teams. In the earlier seasons, East Bengal used to play friendlies with relatively weaker Calcutta Football League sides, but the friendlies with some of the best teams in the country has allowed Khalid Jamil to test his team's strengths and proper combinations.
