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Not many Indian players have had the opportunity of playing in the last four of the AFC Cup, but East Bengal’s 35-year-old goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal could be playing in another such semi-final later this year if the red-and-gold brigade overcome Indonesia’s Semen Padang in the quarter-finals.
East Bengal drew Indonesian champions Padang, who had topped the group which had Churchill Brothers, on Thursday and Abhijit admitted that it was a good draw for the Indian side as they avoided a club from West Asia.
“I think it is good that we avoided a West Asian team. It’s not that it will be easy against Semen Padang but West Asian clubs are physically and technically far superior so it’s better to face them at a later stage. Even when I reached the semis with Dempo, we beat a South-East Asian team in the quarters. I still think it will be very difficult against the Indonesian team but if we play to our full potential we will have a great chance,” Abhijit told Sportskeeda.
Looking back to his exploits in the AFC Cup with Dempo, Abhijit refused to draw comparisons with the current East Bengal side.
“One must remember that during my time with Dempo, we were regularly playing in the AFC Cup and had the same team and coach for several years. We even defeated many West Asian teams in their own stadium. Here at East Bengal, we will be playing the quarter-finals in a fresh new season and under a different coach so we can’t really compare the two teams,” the former India international opined.
Abhijit also talked about the pros and cons of Trevor James Morgan’s departure. After a highly successful three-year stint, Morgan left the club at the end of last season and has been replaced by Brazilian Marcos Falopa as the new head coach of East Bengal.
“The advantage with having the same coach for a long time is that he knows his players very well and can get the best out of them in any situation but now with a new coach coming in its clear that no player would be picked on past reputation. Everyone will have the chance to prove themselves from scratch,” he stated.
The new East Bengal coach’s son, Americo Falopa, is going to be the physical trainer-cum-goalkeeping coach. Abhijit is looking forward to work with a foreign trainer and is also relishing the increased competition following the signing of custodian Abhra Mondal, who played for Pune FC last season.
“It will be interesting to work under a foreign goalkeeping coach and hearing about his impressive CV, I am sure there will be a lot to learn from him. Competition for places is always there in a big club and I think its good Abhra has rejoined East Bengal.
“He (Abhra) knows everything about the club and is a quality keeper, but Gurpreet (Singh Sandhu) and Jayanta (Paul) are also talented so it is going to be hard for each of us to earn a regular spot in the team,” he concluded.
