Tags:
Journalism of Courage
National Football League champions East Bengal leave for Singapore late tomorrow to play Geylang United Football Club in the first round of the AFC Cup on Feburary 10. But two of their star players are going to miss the meet.
Brazilian Douglas Silva, a dependable midfield blocker who played a stellar role in the club’s Asean Cup triumph last year, has stayed away from the game for the last five months following a stress fracture and his absence has caused a few worries to coach Subhas Bhowmick. Also missing from the line-up would be the injured wing back Ghanaian Suley Musah, another Asean hero and a pillar of strength in the East Bengal defensive armour.
A cloud of uncertaintly also hangs over the availability of defenders M Suresh and Surkumar Singh, with the former having visa problems, and the latter carrying an injury.
The coach, who was scheduled to name the squad for the Singapore trip this morning, decided to delay the announcement till tomorrow to get a clear picture about the available players. However, he asserted that he would rather look at the positives than the negatives.
“Though I’ll miss Douglas and Musah, I now have Christiano Junior, who was not there during the Asean Cup campaign in Jakarta,” Bhowmick told newspersons after the morning practice session. Junior, a lethal striker from Brazil, has given a new thrust to East Bengal’s display in the NFL, scoring seven goals in eight matches after his arrival in the city.
Bhowmick said his first priority would be not to lose the lung opener match against Geylang but that did not mean that East Bengal would play a totally defensive game. “We’re well prepared. My players are, however, tired after the gruelling seaons. Eight of them have just returned from the World Cup qualifying camp,” he said.
Star striker Bhaichung Bhutia expressed confidence that his side would emerge winners against Gaylang. “Geylang are a formidable oufit, but we will win. We have had a good build up. Now we need to deliver,” he said.
EB have been clubbed in Group E, along with Geylang, Maldives’ Island FC and Negri Sembilan of Malaysia.
