Churchill 0
Pictures BS News Agency.
East Bengal 4 (Ramirez, Edmund, Bipin-2) Churchill 0
Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: Last year's champion East Bengal started the 2026-27 ISL campaign by defeating Churchill Brothers 4-0 at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao. The red and yellow team took home 3 points from the away match with 2 goals scored by Dani Ramirez, Edmund Lalrindika and Bipin Singh. Before going to play the Churchill match, coach Antonio Lopez Habas had promised the members and supporters to win the match. He kept that promise. In fact, Habas has always been more serious about the ISL and ACL tournaments than other domestic tournaments. While the opposing Mohun Bagan Supergiant coach Panos is still groping for the rhythm of his team, Habas's team's play is much more confident.
So after defeating Churchill in Goa by 4 goals, Habas said, "The first match of any tournament is very difficult. Then when it is a big stage like the ISL. At the same time, it is natural for the fans to have extra expectations because East Bengal was the champion last time. Starting with a big win against Churchill in the away match is certainly an achievement, satisfaction and relief. The footballers' fighting and positive attitude is commendable for that. In the Al Shorta match, they had to pay the price for numerous missed goals. In the Churchill match, they made full use of the opportunities. This game must be kept in mind. Everything depends on the mentality of the footballers. At the same time, the footballers' fatigue must be kept in mind. ISL has a match against Inter Kashi on October 23 in Pune.
Then on October 27, the ACL Two away match against Oman's Al Seeb. East Bengal footballers are playing the most matches in one tournament after another this season. So, to maintain the best game, we have to think about rotating the footballers.'
East Bengal coach Antonio Lopez Habas was quite angry after the loss in the IFA Shield final derby. His anger was about the field, schedule and tournament time. But he did not hold on to it. Instead, he prepared the team for the AFC Champions League Tier Two match. After the Shield loss, East Bengal fought back brilliantly. They even took the lead twice at home against Iraq's Al Shorta Club and played well. But due to missed goal opportunities and momentary carelessness, the match was ultimately lost by 2-3 goals.
Despite losing that match, the confidence of the red and yellow footballers did not waver before playing the first away match of the ISL. On the contrary, the good performance in the Al Shorta match energized the East Bengal camp. At the same time, the main hope of East Bengal defense, Anwar Ali, said before starting the ISL campaign against Churchill, that the mistakes of the Al Shorta match would not be repeated. Coach Habas also strongly said that his footballers would not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity. Despite keeping Churchill's victory over Mumbai City in mind in their own ISL match.
Starting off with a bang, East Bengal took the lead in the second minute with a spectacular free kick goal by Dani Ramirez. Churchill counterattacked and reached the point of equalizing. Their efforts hit the crossbar. In addition, Churchill did not get a goal as East Bengal's defense was solid. East Bengal scored the second goal at the end of the first half. David Hamer picked up the ball and passed it to Edmund Lalrindika, who entered the box and passed it past Syed Qadir into the net.
East Bengal continued to attack in the second half. Coach Habas brought on Bipin Singh as a substitute. Bipin scored his first goal and East Bengal's third goal in the 85th minute with a low shot from a low cross. Bipin scored his second goal in the 90th minute from a pass from PV Vishnu to secure a 4-0 victory.