Trinidad & Tobago international Willis Plaza to join East Bengal practice tomorrow
Kolkata: Ugandan defender Ivan Bukenya at last joined the East Bengal training after a long wait of the East Bengal team management on Thursday. The solidly built central defender was having visa problems and thus joined the side when his team is about 48 hours away to play the first game of the I-League season.
In his first day of training, Bukenya didn’t do too much considering his jet lag. A few touches to his fellow team mates, followed by the usual match practice,was all he did in his first day of training. In the match practice he didn’t feature in the first team as the coach is planning to start the I-League campaign with Gurwinder and Anwar at the central defense. Though it was his first day at training, the defender looked a bit slow compare to his team mates.
The Ugandan international later signed in favour of East Bengal club at the IFA office.
However, there was a problem with Wedson Anselme signing in favour of the Red and Golds as there was a delay in his IRTC. The Haitian international’s IRTC did arrive at the club in the afternoon, following which he was taken to the IFA office to sign.
Along with Wedson, players like Rowllin Borges, VP Suhair, Romeo Fernandes, Jackichand Singh, Robin Gurung, Subhasish RoyChowdhury, David Lalrinmuana, TP Rehenesh, Semboi Haokip & Anwar Ali also signed for the Red & Gold Brigade.
Anwar Ali who will be playing his first match for Red & Golds look confident about his team’s prospect in I-League. Anwar who plied his trade with Mumbai FC under Khalid Jamil few season back said, “We have been practicing well as a team. We are confident about making a winning start at home against Aizawl FC on Saturday.”
The coaching team led by Trevor Morgan didn’t say anything about Bukenya but the assistant coach Warren Hackett seemed to be in a happy-go-lucky mood after his former team Tottenham Hotspurs ended the winning run of Premier League leaders Chelsea last night. Hackett was the man who spent the majority of the time with the new Red & Gold defender and seemed to be reasonably happy on his first outing.
Meanwhile, East Bengal third foreigner Willis Plaza will be arriving in the city tonight. The former Trinidad & Tobago footballer is likely to join practice from tomorrow. It is unlikely that he will be featuring in the eighteen man squad. The way things are going on, it looks like Trevor Morgan will start the I-League campaign with just a single foreigner with Wedson. They are yet to confirm their Asian foreigner as well.
When the arch rivals Mohun Bagan looks confident and raring to go, for the first game of the I-League, the Red & Gold camp looks like under a lot of pressure.