Are East Bengal out of Asian competitions for 2024-25 season?

The Torchbearers failed to qualify for the AFC Champions League 2 group stage.

East Bengal FC lost 2-3 to Altyn Asyr in a close contest in the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2 2024-25 preliminary stage on Wednesday. The Red and Gold Brigade played a good game offensively but silly mistakes led to a disappointing loss.

Carles Cuadrat’s side took the lead in only the seventh minute through David Lalhlalsanga, as the bright forward sniffed out a gap and raced onto space to meet Nandhakumar’s cross with a header. It didn’t take long for Altyn Asyr to respond with Murat Annayev lobbing his shot into the far corner to take Prabhsukhan Gill by surprise in the 18th minute after a defensive blunder.

The Signalmen went ahead next as Selim Nurmyradov whipped in a brilliant free-kick from 25 yards out with Gill once again stuck to his spot. After emerging from the break, Altyn Asyr followed a similar strategy, sticking to sharp and swift counters while soaking pressure.

FT | 🇮🇳 East Bengal 2️⃣-3️⃣ Altyn Asyr 🇹🇲Altyn Asyr put on a fighting display to seal their Group Stage berth! #ACLTwo | #EBGvALT pic.twitter.com/TcVIwSG7lw

— #ACLElite & #ACLTwo (@TheAFCCL) August 14, 2024

The tactics paid off, with Gill saving Annayev’s strike from close range only for Mikhail Titov to prey on the scraps and make the score 3-1 in the 52nd minute. Seven minutes later Saul Crespo showed nimble footwork to weave between three defenders and curl the ball into the far corner as Batyr Babayev was left watching this time.

Altyn Asyr eventually closed out the game and ensured that East Bengal were unable to reach the ACL 2 group stages.

Are East Bengal completely out of Asian competition?

East Bengal still have a chance on the continental stage, all thanks to the revised format of the AFC tournaments. Now that they have been knocked out of the ACL 2 in the preliminary stages, they will be playing in the lower-ranked AFC Challenge League. 

Formerly known as the AFC President’s Cup, the competition was rebranded in this year’s revamp of the AFC competition format that saw the highest level being renamed to the AFC Champions League Elite. East Bengal will join 19 other teams in the competition including Altyn Asyr’s native rivals FC Arkadag. The list also features last year’s AFC Cup participants, Maziya SRC and Bashundhara Kings.

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