The 32nd match of the 8th season of Indian Super League 2021-22 will be played on Friday at Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, where two teams NorthEast United FC and SC East Bengal, who proved to be the worst in this season’s points table, will meet. They will fight each other to get back on the road. While NorthEast United are going through a series of defeats in their last two football matches and will look to work hard to avoid a hat-trick of losses, SC East Bengal would like to open their account of victory. East Bengal team has not been able to win a single match so far this season.
NorthEast United head coach Khalid Jamil revealed, “We haven’t had a good start. We haven’t got many players due to injury. I’m not making excuses but I haven’t found all six foreign players fit for any match. Deshorn Brown’s Injured hamstring is under treatment. Khassa Camara and Hernán Santana are also doubtful to play. I do not agree that the team’s morale is low. In football, sometimes you don’t get what you want, You have to work hard for this. It doesn’t matter whether we play well or bad. Only three points matter.”
The opening of the Red and Gold Brigade this season has been the same as the previous season. It has not won a single win in the six matches played so far. Injuries to Arindam Bhattacharya, Jackichand Singh, and Darren Sidoel added to the team’s troubles. East Bengal looks like a disorganized unit and the matches played so far are lacking in quality.
Kolkata, who played a 1-1 draw against Kerala Blasters in the previous match, will be looking to move up a notch against NorthEast United. East Bengal’s Spanish coach Manolo Díaz said, “We came close to winning a few matches. But we failed to take advantage of the opportunities. We can’t afford to make mistakes against NorthEast. They were last in the semi-finals. We had played, we cannot take them lightly.”