Having lost all their earlier four matches,East Bengal face a tough task when they take on strong Al Ittihad of Syria in their return leg away match in the AFC Cup in Aleppo on Tuesday. East Bengal,who are lying at the bottom of Group D without any point so far,have also decided to travel to Syria with an inexperienced side without at least five key players,including star striker Bhaichung Bhutia. Besides Bhutia,who played for just 15 minutes in East Bengals last I-League match after recovering from a hamstring injury,East Bengal will be without captain Syed Rahim Nabi,Renedy Singh,Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Abel Hammond. Already out of contention for a semi-final spot in the competition and a Kolkata League derby against Mohun Bagan on April 24,East Bengal coach Philippe de Ridder would not want any injury to his senior players. East Bengal,though,will have a slight boost in morale after snapping their six-match winless streak by beating Mumbai FC on April 15 in a Round 21 I-League match. Al Ittihad,who won the first leg 4-1 at Yuba Bharati Krirangan,will come hard on East Bengal as they need to win Tuesdays game to qualify for the next round. The Syrian side,who played in the top-flight AFC Champions League till 2008,are second in the four-team Group D on eight points having won two,drawn and lost once each out of their four earlier matches.
