Internet Desk: Kingfisher East Bengal to play probably the most crucial Kolkata Derby of the season as the Red & Gold brigade is getting prepared in all possible way before facing Mohun Bagan on Super Sunday. The job will anyway be tough for Ranjan Chowdhury’s men, as the team probably will have their last chance to win their first national level competition in the last five years.
Today, under the careful eyes of advisory committee head and club legend Manoranjan Bhattacharya, the team had different preparations of their defense. To get prepared for playing against the dangerous Haitian Sony Norde, East Bengal used Abinas Ruidas as a “dummy” for right full-back Rahul Bheke in the training. The team had a training session of one hour ten minutes in the morning. Ivan Bukenye’s injury is still a concern as the Ugandan defender didn’t train today as well. The team management have decided to leave it on the foreigner about his chances of playing in the derby.
If Bukenya doesn’t get fit, then Arnab and Gurwinder will play in the central defense with Narayan and Bheke in the full-backs. It will be another clash between the two Haitian friends Sony Norde and Wedson Alselme. The last time when they met in the I-League, it was the Mohun Bagan’s Haitian who had the last laugh. Though East Bengal Assistant Coach Ranjan Chowdhury said, “Though everyone is saying that Mohun Bagan is the favourite, but it will be a 50-50 game. No one is ahead.” Talking about the advantage of having Manoranjan Bhattacharya on the bench, Ranjan said, “Mana da won’t be playing the game. It depends on the players on how they react to the situation.”
Meanwhile, there was a little problem regarding the jersey colour of East Bengal for tomorrow’s game as the organizers asked them to play in whites as they felt the light might be an issue. But the Red and Gold brigade directly told them the light was worse in Siliguri and that should never be an issue. Later the organizers were forced to withdraw their request.