AFC Cup: East Bengal face the unknown in Selangor FA

When Kolkata giants East Bengal Club open their AFC Cup Group H campaign against Selangor FA from Malaysia at the Saltlake Stadium today, they will face the unknown as coach Trevor Morgan stated.

Both sides have a lot of respect for each other as became evident at yesterday's pre-match press conference.

"We have not come as a tourist for a holiday trip, the match is very important for us and we will be playing an attacking game with eye on three points," Selangor coach Irfan Bakti said.

He added that East Bengal is a good team with good foreigners both in defence and attack. He also said East Bengal are good in wing play with fast players in these positions. Bakti informed in Malaysian leagues two foreigners are allowed but for AFC Cup they have added to quality Slovakian players in defence and midfield to increase the strength of his side.

East Bengal have had another good local season in India so far, be it Federation Cup, I-League and Calcutta Premier Division; but over the last few years they haven't been able to perform at the Asian level and that is one thing that they would like to set straight.

East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan said he is confident that his boys will put up a good show and added compared to I-League, the AFC Cup is much tougher as higher quality teams participate in these tournaments but he is hopeful of a good show by his players.

Morgan refused divulge his first XI though there are speculations that he could field all four foreigners and that this team would carefully play the first 20 minutes and then see how the match progresses.