In the first leg of the fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, Odisha FC bagged all three points on offer, to the disappointment of the home fans, with their third comeback win of the season.
Coach Joseph Gambau will be aiming for an encore of the same when they take on East Bengal in the return fixture of the Indian Super League (ISL) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. The hosts have been experiencing a downturn in the league and have lost the last three of four games.
A defeat to FC Goa at the hands of leaders Hyderabad FC on Thursday has, however, opened up the playoff spots as sixth-placed Odisha — with 19 points from 12 matches — look to get their campaign on track against East Bengal.
But Stephen Constantine’s visitors are also on the lookout for a late charge for a knockout berth as they were sent a rung down to ninth position after Bengaluru FC’s win on Friday.
With 13 points from 11 games, it has been a topsy-turvy ride for the Kolkata giants who lost to the Sunil Chhetri-led team in their last match. While Cleiton Silva has scored seven of their 13 goals, head coach Constantine will know that his Brazilian forward needs support from the other players in the squad to climb up the table. They also have problems at the back with the team having conceded 20 goals so far this season.
“Honestly, if I win 2-1, I don’t care. If I lose 3-0, then yeah, I care. We don’t deliberately try to concede goals. This is the nature of the game. I would be more concerned if we haven’t won four games. If that makes sense,” Constantine said at the pre-match interaction on Friday.
Odisha FC have also been tested on both ends of the pitch with their defence conceding eight goals in the last four games. The big positives, coming into a new year, have been the performances of Diego Mauricio and Nandhakumar Sekar.
While the former has scored five goals and registered three assists this season — and produced one of the moments of the season with his second goal against Mumbai City FC last week — the latter has contributed four goals for the team.
But the hosts would like to turn things around in their first match of 2023 at home and charge for a top-four finish in the group stage. “We know that this is an important game. We know that these three points means a lot for us, and this is the way that we approach the week,” Gambau said at Odisha’s pre-match press conference.
