KOLKATA: These are strange times for Juan Ferrando and his team.
Early season preparations are essentially about setting the house in order before making audition for a bigger stage and for bigger challenges. In this way, a new-look ATK Mohun Bagan are a work in progress, still trying to adjust to a life after the team management has decided to discard a few old hands at the start of the season.
And now, they are suddenly in the thick of action early on, gearing up for the challenge of conquering a rare frontier in Asian football.
In this strange time, a 'pattern' too appears to have developed in ATKMB's early-season campaign. Back in May, when Roy Krishna and David Williams were still parts of the project, ATKMB started the AFC Cup Group D challenge with a loss to I-League champions Gokulam Kerala FC before winning the next two other group matches on way to booking their place in the continental tournament's inter-zonal playoff semifinal.
Even in the most recent Durand Cup, Ferrando's side again suffered a loss in the opener, but despite their best effort in turning a corner, which included another derby win against East Bengal, they fell short of progressing.
For Ferrando, the Durand Cup setback was past but as ATKMB prepare to welcome Kuala Lumpur City FC for the AFC Cup one-off inter-zonal playoff semifinal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday, they may be taking aim at an unprecedented 'final' in the club's history but won't be having a second chance for a turnaround.
"Football is like that, sometimes you lose games and sometimes you win. Everyone knows how far we are in the AFC Cup at the moment and I'm pretty sure the players will give their beat in the pitch," Joni Kauko said, trying to set things in perspective.
The Finland international also holds a strange link to the team's progress over a year. Exactly at the same stage of the continental competition, on September 22 last year, Kauko's debut in ATKMB jersey ended in a humiliating 0-6 loss to hosts Uzbekistan's FC Nasaf. "I'm pretty sure it won't be the same as last year. The situation is different right now, it's a different team and we're playing at home," Kauko said this time.
ATKMB playing at home would start the favourites, KL City's Croatian coach Bojan Hodak also admitted.
"I've played against Indian clubs twice, and won them both, so I hope it will be the same tomorrow. The good thing is that we're not under pressure. The pressure is on Mohun Bagan since they're playing in front of their fans, everyone expects them to be favourites," the Croatian said, perhaps playing a mind game.
Another Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim under Hodak had beaten Bengaluru FC in the 2015 AFC Champions League playoff and East Bengal in the 2015 AFC Cup.
But Ferrando is not the one to be bothered by all this. "It is amazing to play at home as I know the supporters and I know the stadium. But the start will be 0-0, it would've been an advantage for us had we started the game 3-0 up," ATKMB's Spanish coach pointed out.
Since the departure of Krishna and Williams, the team has been plagued by finishing issues. With Australian Dimitri Petratos likely to lead the line and Liston Colaco in imperious form, Ferrando is confident of crossing the Kuala Lumpur FC hurdle.
"My focus is always to score one more goal than the opponent. It's necessary to continue in the same way, make it 1-0 and then go to 2-0 and then go to 3-0. That's the mentality of this club and the players. I hope we'll be luckier in the final third tomorrow," Ferrando said.
