Kingfisher East Bengal will be looking to book a quarterfinal berth in the AFC Cup football tournament when it takes on Myanmar’s Yangon United FC at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Stadium here on Wednesday. East Bengal topped the Group ‘H’ of the tournament.
The Federation Cup champion, which finished third in the gruelling I-League, will meet Yangon, which made it to this one-off pre-quarterfinal by finishing as the runner-up in Group ‘F’.
The home side has been impressive during the group league games winning all the home matches and emerged unbeaten so far in this meet. The team earned 14 points from six games, winning four games and drawing two.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Making it to the AFC Cup quarterfinal is a huge performance as far as I am concerned,” said coach James Morgan. “East Bengal has never been there and if we win on Wednesday, it will give the club a fresh impetus,” he said.
Morgan’s counterpart, Bulgarian Ivan Venkov Kolev, said the very fact that East Bengal topped the group was a huge achievement.
“We do not know much about East Bengal. It has to be a tough side to beat. We will try our best to get the better of the home team,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Players’ absence
More than his opponent, Yangon coach will be missing five of his frontline players owing to injury or suspension. He also said he hardly got three days to prepare the side for this game.