The I-League still remains a distant dream for East Bengal club’s fans and members. Even after a gap of 14 years, millions of supporters of the Red and Gold brigade couldn’t see their team win the elusive title, after they ended their last match in a 1-1 draw against NEROCA, few days ago.
The National League started its journey as I-league from 2007-08 with a new name and East Bengal failed to cross the line till date. Yes, they reached the second spot more than once and almost regularly got the third position as well but never did become the champions, that their fans wanted to see for so long. This time also, their dream turned into a nightmare on the last day of the tournament.
The result may have been evident on the last day of the I-league tournament, but throughout the season their failure was written large in their performances. The way East Bengal recruited players for their team, appeared to be totally a haphazard one.
Look at the goal keepers. Four goal-keepers were in the team- Ubaid Ck, Luis Barreto, Dibendyu Pal and Mirshad K . Nobody was able to give confidence to the team. In fact, Pal was not in the team for a single match. Goalkeeping coach Siddique remains a conundrum to all the club fans and media personnel.
Look at the stoppers of the East Bengal club. No doubt they were good players but they are past their prime long time ago. Arnab Mondal, Gurwinder Singh and Eduardo played well in patches. On the other hand, a young talent in Salam Ranjan Singh hardly gets a chance to prove his mettle. And for this reason, East Bengal conceded 19 goals in18 matches-which is the highest so far, in their I-League history.
Of the wing backs, well, the less said the better it is. Lalramchullova played to some extent up to the mark. But his short stature was not so helpful for an intense competition as the I-League. Mehtab Singh,Yami and Prokash Sorkar played in the team as U-22 players.But they were simply over-awed by the situation.
East Bengal has got a tradition of having best midfield in the club-level football, since the 1960s. This time their midfield was not up to the mark. Syrian Mahmoud Al-Amna is a player with a delectable touch but age is not in his side. Katsumi Yusa played heart out for the club. For few matches, Bazie Armand was brought in, but he was a total failure.
Introduction of Cavin Lobo was a real positive step. But his recurring injury in the last few years made him basically a player of 55 minutes.
Regarding strikers, it was really a sorry state of affairs. The team started with Trinidadian striker Willis Plaza, who showed his scheming ability more than scoring goals. Other names in this place were Jobby Justin, Surabbuddin ,and later, Omagbemi Dudu. When Dudu was brought in, East Bengal had already lost some very costly points. And considering his age, it was a blunder of a decision to bring him just before, the all-important derby match.
Still Dudu gave some service to the team scoring eight goals in as many matches. But in fact it was a little too late. It still remains a hotly disputed point that why East Bengal officials failed to bring the sixth effective foreigner for the side.
And coach Khalid Jamil was a real misfit in Kolkata football’s high-octane drama. It was proved that Aizawl FC’s I- league victory under his stewardship was an exception.
Neither was he capable of dealing with the media, nor he was capable of dealing with charismatic players. His selection of players in the first eleven and also changing of players during the match raised a lot of eyebrows.
During the era of coaches like P.K Banerjee, Amal Dutta or Naimuddin ,we have seen how they moulded the players according to the requirement of the team and it wasn’t the clubs which were benefitted from this innovative thinking of the coaches, but sometimes Indian soccer got richer with these talents. Just look at the performances of Late Sudip Chatterjee, how the late Amol Dutta turned a right back into finest central midfielder of the country-it remained as a cherished dream for any Indian coach. Look at the coaching tenure(2010-2013) of Trevor James Morgan- the last most successful coach of East Bengal club, under whom they never ended fourth. His only fault was not to toe the line of some club officials.
As the I-league progressed, it was coolly and calmly evident that for East Bengal it is the same story as it has been in last 14 years. Fans and supporters of the club have become more vociferous in expressing their discontent about the officials. Three names were prominent in their utterances-former player Alvito De Cunha(now in the role of main recruiter), Debabrata Sarkar ( known as Nituda in the Maidan circuit) and club secretary Kalyan Majumder. For a long time, they were related with the day-to-day activity of the club. They know very well that this is nothing new in Kolkata football.
Rather new football secretary Raja Guha has got constant touch with the disgruntle supporters. No doubt ,they have to bear the burden of choosing poor foreign players for the side. Why was Willis Plaza, Bazie Armand and last but not the least Ansumana Kromah recruited for the club? Why was this year I-league’s star performer, Bhutanese striker Chencho Gyeltshen not recruited by East Bengal even after his reported initial approach to the club officials? Yes East Bengal officials’ excuse for not achieving the zenith of I-league landed on poor referring in their crucial matches and on the other hand, all sorts official advantages tendered to Minerva FC-which has got some valid points.
Just look at the match between East Bengal and Minerva in Barasat stadium where the hosts were deprived of a genuine penalty. The same happened in Minerva’s home ground in Panchkula, where again East Bengal suffered due to the wrong decision of the referee. In fact this year’s refereeing in I-League was abysmally low.
But all said and done, East Bengal officials have to take responsibility for poor performances of the team, for their poor approach towards every aspect of the football team. They have to keep it in mind that the accolades and credit they got when they won a record number of CFL titles this season, from the fans and members of the club.