AFC Cup: Kind draw keeps Dempo’s 2008 feat within East Bengal’s reach

Can East Bengal match Dempo’s 2008 feat?

In the first five editions of the AFC Cup, Indian clubs reached the quarter-finals three times with Dempo also reaching the semi-finals in 2008. The Goan club achieved that under Armando Colaco to become the first and, till date, the only team from India to progress to the last four.

But for four straight editions after that, no Indian club could even reach the quarter-finals. Much of it was down to the change in format as since 2009 at least 31 teams have been taking part, which introduced a round of 16 stage and for three consecutive editions from 2009 to 2011, Indian clubs faltered at the pre-quarterfinal round as they were up against West Asian opposition.

With the round of 16 being a one-legged tie, Indian clubs had to travel to West Asia and on each occasion, they ended up second best. Last year, both of India’s representatives were eliminated from the group stage and the main reason for that was both East Bengal and Salgaocar were drawn with West Asian clubs.

There is a significant gulf in class between West Asian teams and I-League clubs, but Indian sides find it much easier to compete with teams from South-East Asia. Realizing this genuine concern, which was raised by East Bengal, the AFC kept India’s East Bengal and Churchill Brothers away from West Asia in the 2013 group stage.

In the end, only East Bengal progressed to the knockouts and that too in style as they topped their group and were unbeaten. Churchill Brothers had a steady start to their campaign but just didn’t have the squad to compete both in India and Asia, hence they prioritized the I-League and eventually bowed out from the AFC Cup group stage.

Even in the round of 16, as per rules, East Bengal were able to avoid teams from West Asia. They faced Myanmar champions Yangon United and thumped them 5-1. But for the quarter-finals East Bengal were vulnerable to drawing a West Asian team as clubs from the two different zones of the continent were finally eligible to meet.

Back in April, Sportskeeda had explained how Indian clubs fare better against South-East Asian teams compared to clubs from West Asia. Besides Dempo, every other Indian club have fared poorly against West Asian teams in the AFC Cup with East Bengal managing just two wins in 22 matches.

So even the most optimistic East Bengal fan must have prayed for a tie against one of the remaining three South-East Asian clubs – Kitchee (Hong Kong), Semen Padang (Indonesia) and New Radiant (Maldives).

East Bengal will fancy their chances against Semen Padang

In terms of strength of domestic leagues and quality of squads on paper, New Radiant possibly would have been the dream draw for East Bengal. But the red-and-gold brigade would certainly welcome drawing Semen Padang also rather than facing any of the remaining West Asian clubs – Syria’s Al Shorta, Jordan’s Al Faisaly and Kuwaiti duo Al Kuwait and Al Qadsia.

The Indonesian champions certainly won’t be any pushovers and Indian clubs have failed to beat Indonesian opposition in four AFC Cup meetings. Semen Padang were in the same group as Churchill Brothers and the sides played out a 2-2 draw in Pune with the Indonesian club being without any of their foreigners. The reverse fixture in Indonesia was won by the hosts 3-1 but on that occasion Churchill Brothers fielded a second string side and outplayed Padang with ten men for long periods in the second half.