KOLKATA: East Bengal’s new season is just three-match-old and the reigning ISL champions are already facing the grind of Asian football at a time when the team hardly looks to have started the ignition.On paper, stakes for Antonio Lopez Habas’s side in Wednesday’s AFC Champions League 2 qualifier against Al-Arabi SC at the Salt Lake Stadium have a kind of you-win-sone-you-lose-some feel. A win against the Kuwait Premier League runners-up will give East Bengal a direct place in group stage of the continent’s second-tier club football while a defeat will plummet them to the AFC Challenge League.However, the match is perhaps coming too soon for the new ISL winners to make the most of the situation and this is what is making Habas’ brow furrow with a sense of anxiety.Kick-starting the season with a loss to Mohun Bagan less than three weeks ago and following it with big wins against two novice challengers in the ongoing Durand Cup hardly creates a convincing look of a team ready to make a mark beyond the country’s boundary. Add to this the fact that the home team will enter the contest with only three foreigners, newcomers Daniel Ramirez and Chris Chris Ikonomidis as well as retained Mohammad Rashid, and it makes the case more demanding for East Bengal.Habas, during the pre-match news conference, tried to take the rough with the smooth. A lot will depend on the Anwar Ali-led all-Indian defence against a Kuwaiti side which has come here with its full foreign power and playing friendlies against top sides in Turkiye. In Palestinian striker Zaid Qunbar, Nigerian winger Anayo Iwuala and Brazilian Lucas Shallon, the visitors under Croatian coach Goran Sablic have both pace and potency in the attacking third.‘We know that we are facing a very good team who will play in front of their fans. But we are here to play football and not focus on atmosphere,” Sablic told reporters.However, given the nature of the one-off contest, East Bengal’s veteran Spanish coach won’t mind frustrating the opponents with a battle of attrition and dragging it to a likely tie-breaker. This is why, Jeakson Singh and Rashid could be employed as defensive midfielders ahead of their backline.“We didn’t have too much time for preparation (for this match). This may not be the best situation for us. But I hope we’ll deal with it with a tactical game and a 100% dedication from the players. The players have to sacrifice a lot, they need to be disciplined and perform well to live up to the challenge,” Habas pointed out.
