East Bengal look to ensure complacency doesn’t creep into their system when they get host TRAU FC in Saturday’s I-League encounter at the Kalyani Stadium.
Alejandro Menendez Garcia’s men recorded an away victory at Neroca in their previous game and are third in the standings with five points from three games, while their opponents are yet to be off the mark having lost both their matches so far.
The points table, though, hardly matters for East Bengal, for the suspension to their key man Jaime Santos has landed them in a tricky situation.
“Obviously, he is an important player and will be missed. But our focus is on the players we have at our disposal,” Alejandro said at the pre-match media conference on Friday.
It would also be interesting to find out who Alejandro puts forward in the Jaime’s place. A possibility of Ronaldo Oliviera getting a start does exist.
Given the current scenario, East Bengal aren’t taking TRAU lightly. “I think they do have the resources. What happened earlier is past. It won’t be an easy game for us,” Alejandro cautioned.
Till Jaime comes back, the likes of Kassim Aidara, Marcos de la Espada and Juan Mera need to take a bit of extra responsibility.
TRAU FC, who are yet to open their account, will be under pressure. On top of that, they go into the game after a 0-4 thrashing against Mohun Bagan.
“It’s kind of a do-or-die game for us. We couldn’t win our first two matches, so we must get points tomorrow. Else, things will only become harder,” coach Suromani Singh said.
The visitors, however, are also trying their best to lift their spirits before the crunch game.
“We feel Mohun Bagan are a stronger opposition (compared to East Bengal). But yeah, we have our task cut out,” sideback Abhishek Das commented.
“We will be playing our fourth match in 11 days. But our focus is on winning, nothing else... Have to recover as fast we can,” Alejandro summed it up for East Bengal.
- Kick-off: 5pm