Bengaluru: With the city slowing down to walking pace following the riots across the city, the ripple effect has effectively ruined one of the biggest milestones of Bengaluru Football Club’s brief, if glowing, history.
The I-League champions will meet Tampines Rovers in their first-ever AFC Cup quarterfinals at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday and taking into consideration the brittle atmosphere in the city, the AFC, AIFF along with other authorities have taken the decision to play this match under closed doors, meaning the fans will be out of the purview.
Adding to the woes of the club’s supporters is the fact that the match — moved down to a 4pm start from the initial 7pm kick-off — is not certain to make it live on TV. However, the broadcasters — Star Sports — are to take a decision on the issue in the morning.
The tie against the Singapore giants will mark the competitive debut for former Barca coach Albert Roca, who took over the reins from the popular Ashley Westwood.
With his roots deeply engrained in Barcelona, where he was the assistant coach under Frank Rijkaard, the home side are expected to produce a fluent and passing approach which the team has been practicing over the last six weeks.
The fixture will also be a first for Australian midfielder Cameron Watson and Spanish duo Alvaro Rubio and Juan Gonzales.
Curiously, considering the Indian landscape, the Men in Blue have decided to put their faith in their Indian forwards to get the goals, perhaps in deference to the coach’s philosophy of possession-based football.
As such, much of the home side’s success will ride on Watson, Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Rubio’s ability to keep the team ticking and feeding an in-form Sunil Chhetri, who is likely to lead the line.
With Udanta Singh still not 100 percent fit, Daniel Lalhlimpuia is likely to provide the pace going forward. The brand new pairing of defensive stalwart John Johnson and Gonzales will have to be on their toes as their new responsibility is not just stopping the opposition forwards but also to start the attack.
While injury to the visitors’ prolific Fazrul Nawaz augurs well for the hosts, Billy Mehmet, who has nine goals in 19 appearances this season, will be the main threat for the newly paired defensive duo.
Add to that the ability of English winger Jermaine Pennant and midfielder Ismadi Mukhtar, The Stags are quite capable of unlocking defences. The Singapore side, who went down 1-0 to Home United during the weekend, will also be looking to use their previous meeting with Mohun Bagan as a yard scale in preparation to this game.
The Kolkata side cruised to a 3-1 win in their AFC Champions League qualification tie but went down 2-1 when the two sides met each other in the AFC Cup knockout match in May.
