As the Tampines Rovers team from Singapore took to the Kanteerava grass for their training session, a pall of gloom descended among club officials and journalists in the adjoining media room upon hearing the news that the biggest game in Bengaluru FC’s short but glorious history – the home leg of their AFC Cup quarter-final clash against the visitors – would be played behind closed doors.
The city of Bengaluru has witnessed horrific scenes over the past few days – ranging from the burning of buses and restaurants to the vandalisation of several establishments, resulting in the city police imposing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Given the circumstances, the match was allowed to go on, but with the precaution that there would be no spectators. The match is played behind closed doors because the Asian Football Confederation and the Bengaluru Police had major concerns regarding security, a club official said.
New coach Albert Roca was unable to hide his disappointment at the fact that his reign would start in such ignominious circumstances. Roca re-iterated that neither he nor the team would be using the lack of the usual, vociferous support from the West Block as an excuse for slipping up against the five-time S. League (top flight of Singapore league football) champions.
“It’s a real shame to not have our supporters in the stands tomorrow, but these are circumstances that we have to accept now. All we can say at this moment is that we’re going to look to put in a good performance in a bid to get the best result. It’s been three-and-a-half months without competition and the boys were keen to show where we are trying to get to. We just have to move on and give this our best,” said Roca.
Tampines arrive in Bengaluru already having played 20 of their 24 competitive S. League fixtures for the 2016 season and look match-fit and ready to go, lying in second position. Bengaluru, on the other hand, have played only four friendlies before their first and biggest competitive fixture of the new season.
The Steelmen have won two of their friendlies and lost as many – Roca won his first two matches in charge 3-0 against Army Green and 4-0 against MEG, both local sides. They lost 2-1 to fellow I-league side DSK Shivajians, before going down 1-0 to Ozone FC, winners of the 2015 Bangalore Super Division in a match where striker Sunil Chhetri started up front for Bengaluru FC.
No Excuses for Roca
Roca, while admitting he would have liked more competitive fixtures as a precursor to the game, refused to use it as an excuse. “I can’t change the circumstances. I would have loved to play 20 friendly games and 20 competitive ones, but that isn’t possible. This is our chance to take a big step ahead in the tournament and we will give it everything we have,” he said.
New signing Cameron Wilson mentioned that the players were upbeat about the game despite the prevailing situation. “The mood in the camp is good. There are things you can't control and the main objective is to play the game. There's a lot of experience in the squad and we're all looking forward to this game. It's been quite a long wait for everyone,” said Wilson.
The club have only retained centre-back John Johnson from the Ashley Westwood era, while the other three slots for foreigners are occupied by new arrivals Wilson, midfielder Alvaro Rubio and defender Juanan Gonzalez.
Adding to this confusion is the fact that Roca has been in the job for a little above eight weeks and that the former Barcelona man may favour a possession-based approach differing from the counter-attacking instincts of his predecessor.
Strong opposition
Their opponents will have their tails up after eliminating another Indian team, Mohun Bagan, in the last round, winning 2-1 after extra time. Striker Jordan Webb, who is expected to lead the line on Wednesday, is the team’s top scorer in the league with 10 goals and had also netted against Bagan. Former Republic of Ireland U-21 and ex-Dempo striker Billy Mehmet could prove to be a goal-scoring threat for the visitors.
Tampines coach Akbar Navas took over at the helm of the club in June after previous manager V Sundramoorthy decided to take up the Singapore national team job. Navas won his first eight matches in charge and also qualified for the final of the Singapore Cup.
Navas mentioned that the prospect of facing Bengaluru FC was a daunting, as well as an interesting, one. “We don’t know much about the team except for some videos that we have watched. So we really have no idea about how they will play. We’ll have to wait and watch the first 15 minutes. But this could also work both ways. They have a new coach and new players. It remains to be seen if they can pull it off.”
The Mighty Stags arrived in Bengaluru on Monday morning and had to cancel their scheduled training session the same evening due to the Cauvery row. The Rovers’ team management instead organised a light training session in the car park of the hotel where the team was staying.
Roca, however, signed off on a positive note when he stated that winger Udanta Singh, injured for a long time, may be in contention for a bit-part role come Wednesday. Roca said, “Udanta is an important player for us. He cannot play 90 minutes for sure, but he may have a role to play.”
The timing of the tie has been changed, with the game brought forward from 7 pm IST to 4 pm IST. Broadcaster Star Sports will also confirm on Wednesday morning on whether its TV channels will telecast the re-scheduled tie.
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