Mohun Bagan to meet Tampines Rovers in AFC Champions League qualifying play off

Tampines-Rovers-MB-collageKOLKATA : I League champions Mohun Bagan will face Tampines Rovers of  Singapore in AFC Champions League qualifying play off on January 27 . The match will be played at the Salt Lake stadium . Mohun Bagan’s next opponent in the tournament will be Chinese side  Shandong Luneng Taishan , provided they win against Tampines Rovers in preliminary round 1  . The I League champions may land up  facing Australia’s Adelaide United in Play off round if they win both their preliminary round matches . The S League champions have 5 foreigners in their current squad . The Stags have two Brazilians in their squad in Goalkeeper Rodrigao and striker Rodrigo Tosi  while striker Mateo Roskam , defender Predrag Pocuca and midfielder Robert Alviz  all hail from Croatia . Captain Mustafic Fahrudin is a defensive midfielder . The Serbian is now a Singapore citizen after his impressive display in the first two seasons of S League . Fahrudin  is a regular in the Singapore national team . The club won the national league championship seven times, the Singapore Cup thrice, the S.League five times and the ASEAN Club Championship once. Mohun Bagan coach Sanjay Sen will be pinning his hopes on his Trinidadian world cupper Cornell Glenn and Soni Norde ( yet to join the squad ) to come good against the S League champions . No Indian clubs have the distinction of crossing the preliminary round 1 . Last year I League champions Bengaluru FC narrowly failed  to go to the next round as Ashley Westwood’s side lost 1-2 to Malaysian side Johor Darul Takzim . In 2014  I League runners Pune FC lost 0-3  to Ha Noi TNT of Vietnam .  So it will be a great opportunity for Mohun Bagan to qualify for the next round , as they will get the support of  their fans at home .