Calcutta: Eelco Schattorie is a man who likes to win. But the recently-appointed East Bengal coach knows that come Tuesday, he has a tough job at hand as his wards take on last year’s semi-finalists Kitchee FC of Hong Kong, their first match of the home leg in Group F of the AFC Cup.
The turf at the Salt Lake Stadium has hardly been inspiring — it had drawn flak from teams specially during the inaugural Indian Super League. The fact that East Bengal players are used to playing on it may just give them that slight edge.
But what is bothering Schattorie is the absence of key players who are on national duty. While Arnab Mondal, Saumik Dey, Lalrindika Ralte and Cavin Lobo are in the senior camp in Guwahati, Abhishek Das is in the Under-23 camp.
India are due to play home (March 12) and away (March 17) matches against Nepal in the preliminary qualification first-round matches for the 2018 World Cup.
“It is difficult to replace someone like Dika (Ralte) in a tough match like this. Tomorrow, his place will be taken by Joaquim Abranches. But to find someone with Dika’s skill is not easy,” he said.
According to the coach, Raju Gaikwad will be seen as a centre back in place of Gurwinder Singh. Raju has a rather useful left foot, which can come handy in counterattacks. And that has earned him the coach’s confidence, though Schattorie was quick to add that Gurwinder is a good player too.
For both teams, Tuesday will be their second match of this year’s AFC Cup. While East Bengal lost 1-4 to Johor Darul Ta’Zim of Malaysia, Kitchee defeated Balestier Khalsa of Singapore 3-0 in their respective first matches.
Schattorie has taken charge from Armando Colaco just a few weeks back and East Bengal did come up with a superlative show against Dempo in their I-League encounter on March 1, when they defeated the Goan giants 5-1.
It was Ranty Martins who scored all five for East Bengal, and the red-and-gold brigade will be looking up to him to deliver against Kitchee also.
The visitor’s Spanish coach Jose Francisco Molina is aware that the East Bengal forward line, with Ranty and Dudu Omagbemi can pack in a punch. He, however, said: “We will have to see to it that they cannot get an upper hand. But I am more concerned about how my team plays.”
Their diminutive captain Lo Kwan Yee, a trusted midfielder, said Kitchee are trying to do better with each season. “We have not won the AFC Cup yet, though we have improved over the years. We are trying to improve our game,” he said with the help of an interpreter. In 2008, they could not go beyond the group stage. In 2012, they reached the Round of 16. They made it to the quarter finals in 2013. Last year was their best showing, an appearance in the semi-finals.
“We’ve seen on videos how dangerous Ranty can be. East Bengal have a formidable striking line-up and we cannot afford to underestimate them here,” Molina said.
