KOLKATA: It’s been more than a month since the Super Cup crown slipped out of their hands when East Bengal defeated them in the final at Kalinga Stadium but as Odisha FC take on the same opponents at the same venue in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, a lot has changed in between.
While the home side is comfortably seated atop the league table with 32 points from 16 games, the visitors are jostling at the bottom half to push for the last playoff spot. With 18 points from 16 games, the red and golds are currently two spots and two points adrift of No. 6 Jamshedpur FC (20 points from 17 matches).
After the resumption of ISL post Super Cup break, Odisha are unbeaten in four games, winning two of them. East Bengal, on the other hand, have failed to replicate their Super Cup success in the league, losing three of their six ISL games in this period. They have won only twice and have drawn the Kolkata Derby.
And on Thursday, Sergio Lobera’s boys will be eager to get the better of the beleaguered lot, who will be without their suspended coach Carles Cuadrat, and increase the gap at the top of the table. Odisha’s pivotal Ahmed Jahouh, meanwhile, is certain to return to the playing XI after serving his suspension.
Assistant coach Dimas Delgado will oversee East Bengal in Cuadrat’s absence in the dugout and he sounded confident of the job in hand. “For me, this will be like a normal situation. We’ve been working together since the start of the season and everyone knows what our job is. We’ll take this as normally as possible and explain to the players how to face the game. It’s nothing to be excited or worried about, be normal and take the game as we have to do and go for the three points,” Delgado said on Wednesday.
Odisha gaffer Lobera also remained focussed on self-improvement, saying ahead of the game, “The focus is on us and not on the opponent team. There are things we can manage, try to improve every game, try to grow as a team every week working on the training sessions, competing on the games, and this is our concern.”
However, being reminded of their last meeting, Lobera didn’t mince words to point out that it was ‘due to refereeing error’ that East Bengal won the Super Cup final. “If we remember the last game against them, one trophy was for them because of a big mistake by the referee. They are humans, they can make mistakes. There are no problems about this, but we need to try to help them,” he added.
Cuadrat had also voiced his displeasure over the refereeing standards in his recent press conferences and hopefully there won’t be any big errors come Thursday.
Meanwhile, East Bengal’s star striker Nandhakumar Sekar, formerly with Odisha, was not spotted during training before the game but East Bengal’s Spanish assistant coach said that it was only to give him his due rest.
