East Bengal would face Hyderabad in Indian Football League 2020-21 on Tuesday night to find some positives after a series of disappointment. Both sides are entering this game after a hard-fought draw.
Match Timings: Dec 15, 7:30 PM IST
Team Preview
In the debut season in Indian Football League, East Bengal are having a woeful start with securing just one point from the first four. They opened its account in the points table with a goalless draw against Jamshedpur in the previous game. The former I-League giants showed improvement in the game, and the defense achieved full marks against the Red Miners. Eugeneson Lyngdoh was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the space of five minutes, and 10-men East Bengal managed to hold Jamshedpur for the next 65 minutes and shared points. After finding no scoring from both sides in the first half, the second half went to East Bengal for its tight defense. After the referee's blunder in previous matches, the thing went in favour of Bengal as the referee denied a penalty to Jamshedpur.
Defender Mohamed Irshad’s performance was a big positive from the draw. After going 10-men down and no Danny Fox in the defense, the Indian defender stood like a wall on the left side of the back-line. Robbie Fowler would be delighted after a better outing in the previous game. They are still at the bottom, and this time, they require a victory to close its winless circle. They couldn’t draw opportunities, but they restricted the opposition to score a goal. Lyngdoh has been suspended after receiving a red card in the previous match. Surchandra Singh will be seen in the starting lineup as the right wing-back. CK Vineeth may start up front in place of Jeje Lalpekhlua.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad appeared in three consecutive draws after a winning start to the season. Hyderabad are unbeaten in the tournament, but three points from the last three isn’t an impressive start. Subrata Paul showed excellent saving skills to hold Habas’men to score any goal in the first half. Manvir Singh started the scoring for the Mariners. He got a lucky deflection off Odei and sent the ball past Subrata. After nine minutes, Hyderabad were awarded a penalty as Souvik delivered a pass through to Poojary, and it was brought down by Manvir. Joao Victor grabbed this opportunity to score for Hyderabad, and Mohun B. failed to retain the lead. For the remainder of the game, Hyderabad dominated the game, but they couldn't get the winner. Nizams can be proud of this stunning performance against a strong side.
Hyderabad are not sure about Aridane Santana to feature against Bengal. Lluis Sastre and Joel Chianese are already out of the XI. Souvik Chakrabarti will continue in the midfield after an excellent performance in the previous game. Mohammed Yasir could replace Hitesh Sharma, but it depends on the manager.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
East Bengal
Debjit Majumder; Scott Neville, Sehnaj Singh, Mohammed Irshad; Surchandra Singh, Mohammed Rafique, Matti Steinmann, Narayan Das; Anthony Pilkington, Jacques Maghoma; CK Vineeth
Current form – D L L L
Previous outing – a goalless draw with Jamshedpur
Hyderabad
Subrata Paul; Asish Rai, Odei Onaindia, Chinglensana Singh, Akash Mishra; Joao Victor, Hitesh Sharma, Souvik Chakrabarti; Nikhil Poojary, Halicharan Narzary, Liston Colaco
Current form – D D D W
Previous outing – 1-1 draw with Mohun B.
Key Players
East Bengal
Anthony Pilkington
2 goals in pre-season 2020
Mirshad Michu
2 clean-sheets in I-League 2020-21
Hyderabad
Aridane Santana
2 goals in Indian Football League 2019-20
Joao Victor
1 goal & 1 assist in Indian Football League 2019-20
