Kolkata: East Bengal and FK Arkadag meet here on Wednesday in the AFC Challenge League with the clubs being at different ends of a season. The visiting team from Turkmenistan are starting a fresh term with this double-leg quarter-final of Asia’s tier three competition while East Bengal are stuck mid-table, one match from the end of another Indian Super League (ISL) campaign.
Having lost to Altyn Asyr in the qualifier of the Asian Champions League 2 last August, East Bengal know the pitfalls of playing a knockout match early in the season. Altyn Asyr, also from Turkmenistan, were in mid-season then and the difference between the teams showed in the 2-3 defeat that sent East Bengal to this competition. One of the players in that match, Altyn Asyr midfielder Ahmet Atayew, is among Arkadag’s new signings and is available for this match.
Oscar Bruzon was not in charge then but East Bengal’s coach referred to that match to elucidate that while fatigue can be a problem, especially for a team which played with 10 for nearly one hour on Sunday, early season freshness may not always be an advantage. Predictably, Dovletmyrat Annayev, the FK Arkadag head coach, did not want to make much of taking on a squad which has played nearly 30 matches. Or on Altyn Asyr’s win.
Bruzon said Arkadag could start strongly but having matched the “intensity of top teams in ISL”, East Bengal should be able to handle that.
In a tournament with no restriction on the number of foreign players, East Bengal could use the six they have. Arkadag have none. But the Turkmen have swept the domestic competitions in the 23 months they have been around. In two seasons and 54 matches of the Yokary Liga, Arkadag were unbeaten on way to successive titles. They have also won the landlocked central Asian country’s cup tournament.
It was after winning India’s cup tournament, the Super Cup, in January 2024 that East Bengal earned the right to compete in Asia. Between then and now, it has been a long disappointing run at home for one of the oldest extant clubs in Asia. But they produced a stunning performance in the group stage of the AFC Challenge League in Bhutan to be three rounds from a trophy. “Nobody believed East Bengal will be here in the final stages of an Asian tournament,” said Bruzon.
East Bengal ended their run of six successive defeats in ISL11 with a 4-0 defeat of Bashundhara Kings, drew 2-2 with Paro FC before beating Lebanon’s Nejmeh SC 3-2 in a must-win match.
With four goals Dimitrios Diamantakos is the competition’s top scorer and this match will be as good as any for the East Bengal striker to redeem himself after his red card against Bengaluru FC here on Sunday. “I hope Dimi gives an answer on the pitch,” said Bruzon.
A poor goals for chances ratio has hurt East Bengal in ISL – the top scorer with 13 goals in 17 matches last season, Diamantakos has four from 19 this term – and skipper Saul Crespo was asked about that at Tuesday’s pre-match media conference. “Footballers go through good and bad moments,” he said. “But we would like to remember that we took almost all our chances in Bhutan.”
In a season where they have been hit hard by injuries, Anwar Ali’s dodgy hamstring which makes him doubtful for India’s Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh later this month, is Bruzon’s only injury worry ahead of this match.
East Bengal may have again missed out on a play-off berth in ISL but they go into this match with three wins and a draw in the domestic league. India’s most successful team in Asia in appearances and wins, East Bengal are not lacking in confidence going into this match. Not something that could be said about them in the past four seasons.
