Three-time champions Kingfisher East Bengal have loads of problems ahead of their first ONGC I League fixture against hosts Pune FC that will be played at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on Saturday.
The Kolkata giants are smarting under four losses this season in the IFA Shied and Durand Cup and have no foreign recruit in the line-up to start with. Then there is India captain Baichung Bhutia, who will be played despite not having fully recovered from injury.
And, such a situation has given hosts Pune FC fancy their chances against Kingfisher East Bengal in their debut game of the ONGC I League Super division.
Pune FC are new to this level and their foreign recruits barring maverick Nigerian defender Chika Wali are not used to Indian conditions but they have got some experience in the form of goalkeeper Subrata Paul, mid-fielder Shanmugam Venkatesh and striker Jeje Lalpekhlua to rely on home conditions.
“Bhutia has been out of action and we are not sure about his condition. But we have no other option other than to play him tomorrow. His presence can make a huge difference and I hope he wins the game for us,” said Bhowmick after the practice session on Friday.
Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira also showed respect for Bhutia, “He is a quality player and is dangerous in any situation. We have to take care of him even if he is only 10 minutes on the field. He can snatch away the game from us,” said Pereira.
East Bengal though can rely on skipper Syed Rahim Nabi, Alvito D'Cunha, Sanju Pradhan, Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Renedy Singh.
Indian first choice goalkeeper Paul is set to debut for Pune FC on Saturday along with Brazilian striker Edmar Figueira. With Paul in the goal and Chika in central defence hosts half line looks good. Venkatesh will be more than handy in the mid-field along with S Kuttymani, Arata Izumi (Japan), Sergey Tokov (Uzbekistan) and Douhou Pierre (Ivory Coast) for support. In the forward line Edmar is yet to be tested but Jeje can make things happen for the home team.
“I am happy with the built up to the match. We had three-days practice session under lights here at the venue and have quite read the conditions well. We will go for the win to start the tournament on a high,” said Pereira.
“We had some injury scares to Venkatesh, Edmar and Kuttymani but they have recovered well before the match and are itching to go tomorrow,” he added.
East Bengal coach was quite apprehensive ahead of the match. “First game is always tough. Playing under lights will also be difficult especially for goalkeeper and defenders as we are not used to it. But we have to adapt well to the conditions,” Bhowmick said.
The teams:
Pune FC: Subrata Paul (Gk), Narsimhan Balaji (Gk), Othallo Tabia, Caitano Costa, Sunil Kumar, K Rahul, Chika Wali, Selwyn Fernandes, Asim Hassan, Shanmugam Venkatesh, J Prasad, G Vignesh, Anees Kutty, S Kuttymani, Arata Izumi, Godwin Franco, Douhou Pierre, Sergey Tokov, Jeje Lalpekhlua, TM Manoj, Edmar Figueira
East Bengal: Abhar Mondal(Gk), Avijit Ghosh (Gk), Saikat Sinha Roy, Chhantge Malswamkima, Poibang Poshna, Wasim Feroz, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Govin Singh, Sanju Pradhan, Syed Rahim Nabi, Saumik Dey, Jibon Singh, Mehtab Hussain, Harmanjot Khabra, Mumtaz Akhtar, Alvito DCunha, Saheb Ali Gharami, Renedy Singh, Subhash Singh, Gautam Kujur and Riston Rodrigues.
Courtesy: The-AIFF.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 3 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.