Calcutta: Senior East Bengal player Alvito D’Cunha does not know why his team travelled to Kannur to participate in the EK Nayanar Trophy.

Chirag United beat Mohammedan Sporting 5-4, via tie-breaker, to enter the final on Sunday. The teams were 1-1 after regulation time. Edmilson slotted in for Chirag, while Eduardo got the equaliser

East Bengal, for the record, did not qualify for the semi-finals after failing to record a single win in the tournament. They played three draws against Pune FC, Chirag United and Lajong, respectively, and finished third in the group.

“I seriously don’t know why we went to Kannur to play this tournament. This tournament did not give us any positives. In the end, what we got was some injuries,” Alvito said from Goa, where he has gone from Kannur, on a personal visit.

“Look at the injuries. Harmanjyot (Singh Khabra) has 17 stitches inside the mouth, Sanju (Pradhan) took a knock on his knee, Saumik (Dey) is also badly injured. This is ridiculous,” he said.

East Bengal had to play this tournament since this was a meet of the club sponsors and most of the I-League clubs were participating.

“I agree this was a sponsor’s tournament, still we could have avoided playing. Even the ground was so bad. Indian football can never improve if we continue with this mindset,” Alvito sounded very upset.

East Bengal play their next I-League match on March 2, when they host Pune FC, and their first AFC Cup match is on March 10. “I just hope the India players return from Dubai injury free. Otherwise we’ll have problems,” he said.

East Bengal’s football secretary Santosh Bhattacharya, though, did not agree that the tournament could have been avoided.