We are not favorites in this, claims East Bengal’s Carles Cuadrat ahead of Altyn Asyr clash

Carles Cuadrat mentioned the importance of the ACL Two Preliminary fixture.

East Bengal are striving to qualify for the 2024-25 AFC Champions League 2 group stages when they face Turkmenistan side Altyn Asyr in the preliminary playoff qualifier on Wednesday (August 14). The Red & Gold Brigade need to win their clash at the Salt Lake Stadium to reserve a place in the new AFC competition and avoid having to drop into the AFC Challenge League instead.

Carles Cuadrat on importance of qualifying for ACL 2

Carles Cuadrat is doubling down on the importance of this match for East Bengal, who will be playing in Asia for the first time since 2015. Before the game, Carles Cuadrat explained, “It’s a very important match for the club. It has been a long time since we’ve not played in Asia so it’s an honour to represent India in a top competition like this. It’s been a long time since the club has been far away from this kind of challenge.

“We know it’ll be a difficult test for us, we’ll play against a team that is showing that they deserve to be in an AFC competition year after year as they’ve qualified for top competitions every season. It’ll be a good test for us to prove that we’re also at that kind of level and can represent the country in a top competition like the ACL 2,” Carles Cuadrat added.

Tough schedule ahead

When asked if he’s annoyed about this qualifier being just before the Kolkata Derby against Mohun Bagan in the Durand Cup, Carles Cuadrat noted, “As a coach, I’m very happy that we have to play these kinds of games. When you have two difficult games against difficult opponents means you are playing for big things, so that is great for us. We’ll try to have the players in their best condition to manage both games, but we also have to be realistic.

“I’m a very pragmatic coach and know what I’m doing. Altyn Asyr was a very tough team for us when Bengaluru FC played them in 2018, they won 5-2 against us in two legs. Plus this will be the first match for a lot of our players in an AFC competition and they have many players who have played over 20 games.

We’ll fight for the game, but we need the crowd helping us in our stadium because clearly, we are the underdogs. They got three wins in the group stages last season and they have players with a lot of experience in the AFC Cup whereas for us it’ll be the first game for some of our players,” Carles Cuadrat added.

Altyn Asyr threat

Cuadrat is not taking Altyn Asyr’s threat lightly despite not many Indian football fans being aware of the strength of the team, as he explained: “I lost 2-5 against them, so I know them. What I mean is that there is not a lot of info on the Turkmenistan league, but we’ve seen some things about the AFC Cup.

“They had a training camp in Romania before coming here, so we know the kind of challenge they bring. These kinds of countries have been working at developing football in a very good way for a long time. I’ve played against teams in Turkmenistan in the past, so you see them and you know they belong in these leagues.

“If we can’t win this, then we have another option to play in another Asian competition and that’s important. The important thing is that East Bengal will fight for four trophies this season,” Carles stated.

Could the lack of foreigners hurt Altyn Asyr?

When asked if Altyn Asyr not having any foreigners can be an advantage and make East Bengal the favorites to win the game, Cuadrat replied: “We are not favourites for this. We are playing in Asia after nine years and have a lot of inexperienced players. One thing is clear is that East Bengal will always have a never-say-die attitude and we’ll take advantage of our home crowd.”

“We know they’re getting tickets in a big way for the game and they are ready for this competition, my players are also ready. Altyn Asyr was very superior to my Bengaluru team six years ago, they showed everyone that they were superior. They’ve competed every season for such high stature. For us, it’s a new thing happening and have a wonderful opportunity to make things happen at home. We have to execute our plan, give our everything and win the match.”

Should the qualifier be a two-legged one?

The gaffer was also questioned on whether he’d prefer this qualifier to be across two legs, and he explained, “The rules are there and I’m not the person to talk about that. It’s becoming difficult to compete in Asia, as last season India had a slot in the AFC Champions League (now AFC Champions League Elite).

But the results we’re having in Asia, and we have to accept that. We have to be conscious that Indian football is improving, but the other countries are also doing their job and improving. In the Olympics, we saw the same. We feel that we’re working well, but you see how things are progressing in the rest of the world. We must accept that this is only one game and get the result at home.”

Using East Bengal foreigners for this clash

The Spaniard also dismissed claims about him being able to use more foreign players and if that can be an advantage, stating, “Every club builds the strongest team for this competition and brings the best team you can use. I think Altyn Asyr have some players who were not born in Turkmenistan but got the passport as they played there for a long time. You have to build the best possible teams with the rules. We are building a squad the supporters will be proud of, everyone in the club is giving a big support.

“We will bring our full squad later in the competition. We are probably not arriving at the best scenario for this match, because of transfer window, injuries and lack of pre-season training, but that is what happens in football. It doesn’t matter if we use three foreigners or four, but we need to try and achieve the best results in front of the challenge,” he also said.

How have the new signings adapted?

When asked about how the new signings have adapted so far, Cuadrat answered, “I’m very happy with our transfer window, but it’s still not finished. Maybe we’ll sign more players in the next few weeks. But we are not ready to put in a lot of new players because of pre-season, the moment they arrived, injury issues and little things that happened.

But I’m not worried, with the numbers we have now, we’ll try to qualify. We are building a strong team and one that can compete in four competitions, which is the plan. I’m not nervous if we can use six new players, three or seven. We’ll use the numbers who are ready for the competition now and then see in the future how the team grows up and pick the best team that can be competitive.”

Cuadrat also voiced his disappointment that his new signings haven’t gotten the best pre-season training yet but voiced reason to be more competitive with this squad. He said, “We all know that Indian football doesn’t have an easy calendar. It’s a reality. That is the reason why there are issues with Visas and all.

“We didn’t have Talal and Dimitri training with us only 15 days so they didn’t get much pre-season practice, the same with Yuste too. It doesn’t matter about the result tomorrow, as we’ll play in four competitions. We are in the Durand Cup, then we’ll play in the AFC Champions League 2 or Challenge Cup starts in September. We want to raise the standards. We reached two finals last season and were not so good in the ISL. We want to be the protagonist in all the competitions we want to play this season.”

How Cuadrat intends to use his squad for Altyn Asyr clash

Cuadrat also insisted that he won’t have a fully fit squad with peak match fitness and needs to use his players smartly, stating, “I realized that we have a very good squad with Bengaluru when we played against Altyn Asyr.

“We had a lot of great players there. We missed Dimas for that match as he was injured so maybe that was one of the reasons we didn’t get a good result without our midfield maestro. It’s difficult to compare but I’m very happy with my squad now. We had a lot of meetings and the sensation we have as a club is that we bring players who can immediately improve the starting XI.

“We need players who can reinforce the squad with players from the reserves, they have played in the UK, gotten experience there and are playing well in the CFL.

“We need to make an effort to sign players who can make a difference in the starting XI and then also use players who are developing. We don’t have the entire squad to play 90 minutes tomorrow, but it’ll be a case of playing 50-60 minutes. That is a reality of pre-season. We want to build a team who can be competitive throughout the season,” Carles finished.

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