Kolkatans lose to Kuwait SC 0-3
Kolkata: East Bengal’s hopes of scripting history by becoming the first Indian football club to enter the AFC Cup final were dashed by a far more superior Kuwait Sports Club, who won the second leg semifinal 3-0 here on Tuesday, despite the presence of around 65,000 partisan fans.
The scorers for Kuwait SC were Rogerio Coutinho (42nd minute), Hadi Khamees (44th) and Fahad Awaad (87th).
East Bengal played with 10 men for the last 24 minutes as their stopper Arnab Mondal was shown a red card for pulling a rival player by holding his jersey.
The two-time defending champions thus made it to yet another continental club championship final with an aggregate scoreline of 7-2.
It was a match where the superior skills by the players and greater tactical acumen shown by Kuwait SC’s Romanian coach Marin Ion proved to be decisive.
Needing a minimum 2-0 win to make it to the summit clash, East Bengal players looked overawed by the occasion and also didn’t have the firepower to win the match.
The decision of East Bengal’s Brazilian coach Marcus Falopa to play with a single striker in South Sudanese James Moga defied logic.
Specialist striker Edeh Chidi operating from deep and in-form midfielder Baljit Singh Sahni being kept on the bench for 51 minutes were some other Falopa decisions that could come under the scanner.
Kuwait SC soaked in the pressure of playing an away game and then hit on the counter as they closed down the match in the first half.
Such was the confidence of the Kuwaiti side that they kept their premier striker Issam Jemma (18 goals in the tournament) on the bench.
Having put up a gutsy show for 40 minutes, East Bengal lost it in the final five minutes before the break as their back-four bungled big time, conceding two goals in two minutes as the match ended as a contest at the end of first half itself.
East Bengal’s best chance came in the 23rd minute when Moga, after receiving a through pass from Mehtab, muscled his way past three defenders, but couldn’t get past Kuwait SC goalie Muaab Alkandar.
Early in the second half, Moga, from South Sudan, found himself substituted in the 51st minute, which led to him making some ugly gestures towards coach Falopa.
There was also an altercation that was there for everyone to see. (PTI)