East Bengal determined to reply to match-fixing allegations

After some teams and their managers complained to the Federation Cup officials about the suspicions of match fixing regarding the match between East Bengal and Kalighat Milan  Sangha, which East Bengal won by 4-3, the East Bengal team wants to answer that criticism in the semi-final match against Churchill Brothers, which is going to start from 6:30pm today. Yesterday at the time of returning from a training session, East Bengal captain Sanju Pradhan told, “We tried hard and won the matcg. Comparing Kolkata League and the Fed Cup is completely ridiculous. If the match was fixed then we could not have scored 3 goals in the beginning. These criticisms will only boost our motivation. We are prepared to answer them on the field”.

The East Bengal mid-fielder, who has been returned back from suspension, will start today’s match. Talking about the pressure of playing against Churchill and their captain Beto, he said, “I played with Beto at Mohun Bagan in the season 2005-06 after which he moved to Goa. Mohun Bagan, ONGC or East Bengal, wherever I have played, the responsibility to block Beto was always on me. many times I have succeeded. The coach told me what I have to do, I hope I will not let him down”. On the match fixing issue he added, “We want to give the reply of the criticism of match fixing on Thursday”.

Meanwhile, East Bengal has to play today’s match in the yellow jersey while Churchill will play in their traditional red jersey.