AFC Cup: Reaching the final will be the greatest achievement in EB’s 93-year history
File photo of East Bengal fans
East Bengal have a rich and illustrious history which includes success both home and abroad. So much so that they have often been branded as the torchbearers of Indian football as their influence has gone beyond football matches. The groundbreaking tour to Romania in 1953 or the several exhibition matches that they played in 1951 to aid the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund are just two examples to illustrate the aforementioned point.
Even these days when Indian football fails to catch the attention of the masses, East Bengal remain one of the most followed sports teams in the country with more than 9 lakh likes on their official Facebook page as well.On Tuesday they were also one of the top trending topics on Twitter in India, a rarity for Indian football teams.
That happened after they made India and Indian football proud by reaching the semi-finals of the AFC Cup. East Bengal have matched Dempo’s 2008 feat and will now aim to beat defending champions Kuwait SC over two legs and become the first Indian club to reach the final of the AFC Cup.
If Marcos Falopa’s side manages to achieve that, then it should be considered as the greatest achievement in the club’s 93-year history. In this article, Sportskeeda will explain why.
How Big is the AFC Cup?
It wouldn’t be unfair to say that besides the regular Indian football followers, which in truth are a small percentage of our total population, not many in India are fully aware about the importance and magnitude of the AFC Cup. So let’s revise what exactly is this tournament all about.
To make it simple for football fans in general, the AFC Cup is the equivalent of the Europa League in Asia. So it’s the second best club competition in Asia but unlike its European equivalent, the tournament doesn’t feature teams from top-ranked countries or leagues of the continent at all.
But the standard of the competition is still much higher than India’s domestic league and that is why we have seen only two Indian teams reach the semi-finals of the tournament since its inception in 2004. The majority of countries that are represented in this tournament are ranked higher than India in the FIFA Rankings and also have much better domestic leagues. And that is why East Bengal’s run to the semi-finals is a truly remarkable achievement.
Unbeaten East Bengal have been outstanding in this year’s AFC Cup; Photo Credit: Kingfisher East Bengal
It is true that the Kolkata club still hasn’t faced a team from West Asia in this edition but that can’t take away any credit from them. East Bengal did the double over the domestic champions of Singapore, a country that the Indian national team have failed to beat in their last two meetings. They have also beaten the champions of Indonesia, Myanmar and a team each from Malaysia and Vietnam.
In some of these games, like the wins over Vietnam’s Sai Gon Xuan Thanh and Myanmar’s Yangon United, East Bengal haven’t just won but have thrashed their opponents, something the senior India national team fails to do against any nation at international level.
The argument that club sides have foreigners unlike the national team doesn’t have much importance because clubs of other Asian countries also enjoy that luxury so maybe the quality of foreigners in East Bengal and I-League in general is better than other AFC Cup-participating nations.
Another fascinating statistic about East Bengal in the AFC Cup this season is the fact they are still unbeaten in nine matches and, in fact, they are the only semi-finalist not to have lost a game in this edition. They are also the only club with a 100 percent record at home, having won each of their five games.