Nepalese club hope to salvage pride

SILIGURI, Aug 24: After their disastrous opening match yesterday, Tribhuvan Club of Nepal will look to salvage some prestige when they take...

SILIGURI, Aug 24: After their disastrous opening match yesterday, Tribhuvan Club of Nepal will look to salvage some prestige when they take on last year’s Federation Cup champions East Bengal in the second leg of the 8th Asian Winners’ Cup tie at Kanchenjunga Stadium here tomorrow.

The Calcutta giants are already through to the next round after they stream-rolled the Nepalese outfit, 8-0 in their home match at Salt Lake Stadium yesterday. The red and gold brigade will now now face Japan’s champion club, Kawasaki, in the group two knock-out tie.

Though tomorrow’s match is now a mere formality, the prevailing enthusiasm here indicates that Tribhuvan Club, after being utterly outclassed yesterday, will try to turn the tables on favourites East Bengal. Tribhuvan coach Lt Narendra Pratap Mahat feels the score line of 8-0 in favour of East Bengal does not reflect the Nepalese outfit’s credentials. He reminded that last year the two teams had met at Kathmandu in the Coca-Cola Cup where East Bengal had barely made it — 2-1.

In fact tomorrow’s match stands to create more pressure on East Bengal as they will have to maintain the standard they set in the first match.