Durand Cup is our preparation for the bigger tournaments- Alejandro Menendez

The game saw the Red and Gold Brigade score two late goals in the second half.

East Bengal kicked off their Durand Cup campaign in compelling fashion with a 2-0 win over Army Red in their first Group A game at the East Bengal Ground on Saturday. Late goals from Jaime Colado and Bidyashagar Singh was enough to shove away a resurgent Army side, who kept them at bay for a long time before goalkeeper Zothanpuia was sent off.

Alejandro Menendez was pleased with his first victory at East Bengal’s iconic stadium and speaking on his feelings about the result, he said, “I think we played a good game. We will keep improving. In the second half, we played better and made them tired. We kept control of the game and the goals were the result of that.”

However, the Spaniard had some issues with the ground condition itself and stated, “The ground is a bit hard. We are still adjusting and continuing with our pre-season. Even with the hard ground, we have to do well. The situation of the ground should not affect our game.”

Moreover, when asked about how he felt his side performed as a unit, considering this was the first match of the new season. Alejandro stated, “The players performed well. We created chances. They ran throughout the match. We are happy with the performance.”

“For us the friendly games started today. This is our preparation for the bigger tournaments. We set up the team now so that we can do well in I-League,” he also added.

Menendez was also questioned about how his side is coping with having to play the Durand Cup and the Calcutta Football League simulteously with this vigorous schedule. He explained, “We are in pre-season and we are playing these tournaments. At this stage we have training and the games. We have to get our players to perform at the peak moments. It is not possible to do it in a few days. This is a progressive process.”

Army Red’s coach Anustup Sarkar seemed pleased with his side’s effort against East Bengal despite coming out on the losing side in the end. When asked about the turning points of the game, he stated, “East Bengal is a good team. Our center midfielder had to be substituted with a muscle pull along with the red card, these are the two turning points.”

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He was also asked about his feelings on his side’s performance level in a game they managed to keep the Kolkata giants at bay for a chunk of the game. Sarkar concisely stated, “If we had foreigners we could have stopped them. I am happy with our performance. Our mission was almost successful.”

The game really turned when Army Red’s goalkeeper received the marching orders for trying to bring down Bidyashagar outside the box. However, Sarkar wasn’t too pleased with the decision and stated, “The officiating could have been better. He could have avoided the red card as the foul was outside the box.”