I-LEAGUE Media Team
NEW DELHI: Sporting Clube de Goa believe they have more than just a fair chance of repeating their fantastic Hero Federation Cup triumph over Kingfisher East Bengal in the Hero I-League opener at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday.
Sporting Clube came from 1-3 down to stun East Bengal 4-3 and seal a place in the semifinals of the Federation Cup and coach Mathew D’Costa believes there is no reason to believe they cannot score another famous victory over East Bengal on their home ground.
“We have a young squad and confidence for now is high. We defeated East Bengal in quite magical circumstances and our efforts will be to do it again,” said the Sporting Clube coach.
Sporting Clube are likely to field the same side that featured in the Federation Cup especially since Australian striker Jerry Karpeh continues to be on the sidelines and joining him is Sumeet Passi. Star midfielder Brandon Fernandes is yet to procure his international clearance from South Africa and Portuguese midfielder Miguel Garcia — formerly captain of NorthEast United in the Indian Super League — is yet to start training with the team.
“We have a young squad and all the boys are raring to go. I am sure we will be able to collect full points against East Bengal,” said Mathew.
East Bengal were stunned into disbelief by Sporting Clube in the group stages of the Federation Cup but coach Armando Colaco has now told the boys to forget the debacle and start afresh in the I-League.
“We made mistakes in that game and allowed Sporting Clube to walk away with the victory. Such mistakes will not be repeated again,” said Colaco, the former India coach.
East Bengal arrived in Goa without four of their regular players, notably Nigerian striker Dudu Omagbemi. The others missing include captain Harmanjyot Khabra, Gurwinder Singh and Lalrindika Ralte.
“Dudu will be a big miss because he is our main striker and got us several goals in the domestic league. But I trust the others, whoever takes his place, to deliver the goods. We cannot be thinking of players who will not be there tomorrow. We have to stay positive,” said Colaco.
