Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: East Bengal qualified for the main stage of the AFC Champions League Tier Two by winning 4-1 at home against Al Arabi of Kuwait at Yuva Bharati Stadium. The red and yellow brigade brought home the Durand Cup by maintaining that winning streak. Then, East Bengal Chief Coach Antonio Lopez Habas made full use of the time he got for the first away match against Jordanian club Al Hussein in the AFC Champions League Tier Two. East Bengal will leave for Amman, Jordan on Saturday to play the match. Before that, Coach Habas made final preparations with his footballers at the East Bengal stadium on Friday evening.
The body language of the footballers in practice and Coach Habas's words have given Al Hussein a lot of confidence about the match. Usually, club coaches take a little extra caution when playing away matches. They are not happy if they get a point from the outside field. But East Bengal coach Habas is built in a different way. His philosophy is completely different. He said, 'For me, there is no such thing as a small or big team. All teams are equally strong. I do not agree to think of ourselves as inferior. I ask the footballers to play to win in all situations. I do not ask them to play for a draw. There will be no exception against Al Hussein. The team will play to win. This time, I will accept whatever result is at the end of 90 minutes.'
How much do you know about the Al Husseini team? How has the preparation been? Coach Habas's answer, 'I have inquired about the strength of Jordan's champion team Al Husseini Shakti. They have recently hired a good striker. But we will understand whether he will play. The preparation has been good. Now we will see how the footballers can give their best on the field. I am worried about the pressure of going to Jordan. It will take 13 hours to reach Amman by plane from Kolkata. The footballers will have to overcome that fatigue and play in a new environment and field.’
East Bengal is going to Amman with 26 footballers. Out of which 23 names will be registered for the game. Habas’ team will include 4 foreigners Ramirez, Rashid, Economides and Croatian defender Zibulic. Rashid has not practiced for the last two days due to back pain. However, Habas will take him with him. He said that he will play if he is fit. He also said that Economides is now fully fit. He has planned to use him in the match. When asked if it will be a problem if Nigerian striker Effiong is not available, Habas responded sharply, ‘I don’t want to think about the one who is not there. Is the local boy David less or not? Strikers like him are rare in this country. Moreover, there are attackers and goal scorers like Edmund and Jason Tick. I have equal confidence in the rest of the team's players to win the match.'
Coach Habas is not thinking about the result against Al Husseini. His goal is to play well. He said that we have to move forward with the match. There is no point in putting pressure on ourselves by thinking about the final result from now on. For now, the focus is only on the Al Husseini match. The real goal in Indian club football is to become the ISL champion. Then to do well in international competitions. So, we have to balance both to achieve success.