I-League Preview: East Bengal, Shivajians eye first win; Bengaluru set to host first South-Indian Derby

Pune/ Bengaluru: Having split points in their tournament, East Bengal will aim for an outright win when they take on hosts DSK Shivajians the in the second round of Hero I-League football tournament at the Balewadi Stadium, here Saturday.

In day's second match, defending champions Bengaluru FC take on the newbie Chennai City FC to mark the first South-Indian Derby of the season.

East Bengal drew 1-1 with Aizawl FC in their opening match of the season, while Shivajians lost 0-1 to Mumbai FC.

But the inclusion of India striker Robin Singh will defintely give East Bengal a huge ahead of their second I-League game this year.

"We have good players who can win games for us. The first thing is you need to work hard on your positions, and that is something we have worked on in training this week," said East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan.

The Kolkata outfit have travelled with a 22-man squad here.

"It is an important game for us. Last week we did not play to our full potential," Morgan said.

"Last time we trained with just one forward. This time in the training I had four strikers available," he added.

Asked who will fill the role of an under-22 in the playing eleven against DSK Shivajians, Morgan said there are two under-22 players in the team and it is to be seen who starts tomorrow.

On the other hand, DSK Shivajians manager Dave Rogers said he expects a tough encounter against the Bengal giants tomorrow.

"It is exciting (first home game). There are no easy games in this league and we will play against one of the most recognised and successful teams in India, which is great," said Rogers.

"We don't set targets. We look at progress. At the end of the season, we will look back and assess everything and see where we are."

Rogers also hinted that experienced goalkeeper Subrata Pal might get a start tomorrow.

"He (Pal) will train and will be assessed for tomorrow's match," he said.

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Not many times Bengaluru witnessed a South Indian derby before, last time it was played was in 2011-12 season, between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Chirag United Club Kerala. Last time a match between clubs from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was played in 2002-03, the seventh edition of erstwhile National Football League.

In that season, Chennai had Indian Bank and Bengaluru had Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Indian Telephone Industries (ITI). In a 12-team league, Indian Bank survived relegation while HAL and ITI finished 11th and 12th respectively and were relegated in the next season.

After a convincing win at the start of the new season, Coach Albert Roca was upbeat and, "We are at a stage to build up something, have to be consistent and try to make things that we are prepared for. Our intention is to keep the team spirit that we have shown to our supporters in the first game."

BFC have bolstered defence department by adding National player Sandesh Jinghan.

"Sandesh is a good player, he can help us to be stronger, but we have to give him time to settle down mentally, we can't pressurise him for tomorrow's game. I know I'm counting on him and I am sure he'll be important for us in the future."

The former Barcelona assistant coach looked content with the existing squad.

"We have enough good players, I don't expect any other players joining us. I am happy, we have a good balance in all departments. This is the squad I like!"

Roca sounded cautious about his opponent and said, "Chennai City FC have got a good squad with most of the players having a prior experience of playing in Hero I-League, they will also be hoping to score and put us in trouble. I am expecting tomorrow's game to be difficult than the last one," adds the Spaniard.

Roca is not in favour of making too many changes and said, "Our first game was good, I don't want to make too many changes, but the other players must be ready to get in as we are playing the next two matches within a week."

Coached by Robin Charles Raja, Chennai City bolstered their lineup by adding players having experience in I-League – Karanjit Singh, Debabrata Roy, and Denson Devadas, foreigners Haroon Amiri and Echezona, and local boys Dharmaraj Ravanan and Dhanpal Ganesh.

Charles is hopeful for tomorrow's match and said, "We have started on a positive note, our first game was a draw, and we surely want to do well in the other matches."

With not enough pre-season and late signings, they have a task cut out.

Chennai City FC must be seeking inspiration from the other big club from South, "BFC maybe a different club but they too are from the same zone. Heard a lot about BFC. We are looking up to BFC as a role model, we're learning, and hopefully we'll catch up with them in coming days."

Raja further added, "We'll give a tough time to Bengaluru FC tomorrow, and we'll do well as a team!"