East Bengal vs Al Shorta Highlights – AFC Champions League 2 updates – EBFC 3-2 SHO; East Bengal loses

Anwar finds Edmund, and the ball goes to the defender again, and a cross is floated in, and Rashid gets on the end of it and couldn’t finish it as he’d have wanted. It is given as a goal-kick. 

Rashid floats in a corner, and it is cleared. Ake Loba takes a shot, and EBFC get a corner. 

Jay Gupta gets on the end of the corner, and it is saved by Jalal. 

Four minutes of additional time added. 

Jay Gupta closes down Leonel on the left, and Bipin carries the ball forward, and Chungnunga tries to feed the ball inside, but he is closed down. The ball goes out for a throw in. 

Rashid from a corner. Anwar Ali leaps and heads the ball, but it is high; he didn’t find the space and was crowded out. 

Edmund finds the ball in the middle of the box, he passes it on to Ake Loba, who couldn’t find the space he’d have intended, and the chance is wasted. 

Edmund finds the ball and takes a shot, but he gets no connection whatsoever on it. The shot is wide. 

Substitutions for EBFC: Arnaud Loba and Zwolinski come on. 

Abdoul has received a second-yellow, and is sent off. Al Shorta down to ten players. He has brought down Jay Gupta.

Change for East Bengal: Bipin has come on for Hardik.

Ramirez brings down Barco, and Al Shorta gets a free-kick 30 yards out of the box. Barco is standing over it. 

Hussein takes the free-kick and it is wide and out. 

Hardik goes into the referee’s book for pulling Kuku’s shirt from behind as the striker was racing forward. 

What great defending from Al Shorta. Ramirez takes a shot from inside the box, and it is saved and falls to Edmund; once again, it is Jalal on the line to save it, and the ball bounces inside but is finally cleared off danger. Habas cannot believe the team’s luck on the sidelines. 

Jay Gupta finds Rashid, and he takes a shot that is low and without any power to test the goalkeeper. 

Leonel finds a through ball on the right, but the flag is up. 

The crowd has fallen silent as Al Shorta begins dictating play. They’ve had a lot of the ball in the last five minutes. 

Chungnunga has been spot on tonight so far; he tracks back Ahmed and slides in to clear the ball, and Al Shorta wins a corner. 

Kuku has headed the visitors in the lead. 

Barco makes immediate impact after coming on, he floats a beautiful corner and Kuku was in the near post to head the ball past Gill to give the visitors the lead. 

Hussein Al-Saedi scores the equaliser. The goalscorer in Al Shorta’s win against Al Seeb gets his name on the scoresheet once again. 

Ramirez lofts the ball into the box; it falls to Rashid, who gets a good first touch, but he can’t find space to shoot, and the chance goes begging. 

David Hmar challenges with Abdoul in the air, vying for the ball, and his arm catches the Al Shorta player, and David goes into the referee’s book. 

Cristian Barco comes on for Al Shorta at second-half kick-off; Bassam Shakir comes off. 

The players are walking out for the second-half. 

While David Hmar’s two goals will grab the headlines as East Bengal heads into the break with a 2-1 lead, credit must also go to Chungnunga, who has been solid on the left side, where Al Shorta has launched much of its attack. Ramirez has been impressive in midfield, while Rashid has linked up well with his teammates as the Red and Gold takes a narrow lead into half-time.

It is half-time. David’s two goals help the home side head into the break with a two-goal lead.

Ramirez plays a ball to Edmund on the left on the counter, who drives inside, drops his shoulder, and curls a shot with the inside of his right foot to win a corner. 

Rashid finds the gap, and he plays the ball through to David, who collects it, takes a shot, and it flies past. David went for power, but placement was not there.

Hardik from the right plays a beautiful cross inside the box, and it is Edmund on the far post, and doesn’t control his shot. He was falling on his back as he takes the shot, and it flies high and above. 

Edmund is brought down, and the second Al Shorta player goes into the referee’s book, and this time it is Maytham. 

David is in the mood, and he lashes out at the shot; it flies over the crossbar.

Ramirez stands over the free-kick.
He gets the ball over the wall, and goalkeeper Jalal dives to his left to save it, but the danger isn’t cleared and Rashid flicks the ball inside, and David is at the right spot at the right time to score and make it 2-1. 

David gets the ball, cuts past two, and is brought down by Abdoul. The referee reaches for his pocket; it is a yellow card. 

Jeakson wins the ball in the centre, and tries to counter but his pass doesn’t find a red and gold shirt, and the ball is won again by Al Shorta. 

Chungnunga, under pressure, has constantly been tested by Kuku and Ahmed. The defender has managed to clear it so far. 

Rashid wins a free-kick, and Ramirez set to take it.

The cross is floated in, and Jay Gupta goes for the ball at the far post, but Goalkeeper Jalal is quick off the line to punch the ball out. 

Ramirez is down on the ground; he was caught in the face by an arm from Ahmed. The referee has a quick chat, but no cards so far. 

Al Shorta is now stitching together multiple passes in the back and opens up Abdoul on the left, but East Bengal closes him down, and it is cleared. On the other end, David is caught offside from Rashid’s through ball. 

Gill starts proceedings from the back after the hydration break.

It has been central from East Bengal for now, while Al Shorta has been attacking from the left. The players head for the drinks break. 

Leonel Ateba goes shoulder to shoulder with Chungnunga; the defender’s header falls to the Al Shorta player, who manages to win a corner. 

Chungnunga, from the middle of the park, takes a shot, and the amount of swirl in the shot almost deceives goalkeeper Jalal, who scrambles to make a save. Good effort by the defender. 

The momentum has shifted slightly; it is Al Shorta who is seeing a lot of the ball now. Rashid brings down Ahmed from behind in the middle of the park. 

Ahmed Yahya has been teasing in from the left and finally has his moment. Corner comes in and he leaps the highest to head the ball to score the equaliser. 

Ahmed once again gets into the box from the left, but Chungnunga is there to clear the ball from danger. The visistors have a corner next. 

Ahmed Yahya shrugs off defenders and runs inside from the left, but his cross is weak and easily collected by Gill. 

The corner was headed goalwards, but nothing came out of it, and Hardik found David Hmar, who turns and takes a shot. East Bengal score 

Kingsley Kuku collects the ball on the left and drives forward, but Chungnunga is there to cover. Al Shorta win a corner from it. 

Basim Rashid gets the ball in the middle of the park and finds Dani Ramirez on the right, a lofted ball inside the box, but nothing comes out of it. 

Al Shorta’s goalkeeper Jalal was down on the ground for a brief moment, and had the medical staff attend him. The action is back underway. 

It is kick-off at the Salt Lake, and East Bengal playing from left to right in its home kit (Red and Gold). 

East Bengal has home support backing it; they’d aim to make the most of it and bag the first victory of the tournament tonight.

It is almost time. The players are in the tunnel, ready to walk out. Kick-off at 7:15 PM. 

Jeakson Singh and Diego Zivulic have been named in East Bengal’s starting XI. Their defensive work and ability to recover possession could be important against Al Shorta

East Bengal reached the semifinals of the AFC Cup in 2013, where its campaign ended against eventual champion Kuwait SC. The Kolkata club lost the first leg 4-2 in Kuwait before suffering a 3-0 defeat at home.

East Bengal FC and Al Shorta SC will meet for the first time in continental competition. The encounter will also be East Bengal’s first home fixture of the tournament. 

Dani Ramirez starts after playing a decisive role in East Bengal’s 2-2 draw against Al Hussein. He opened the scoring in the ninth minute before delivering the corner that led to East Bengal’s second goal. 

Antonio Lopez Habas has opted to start Edmund Lalrindika and David Lalhlansanga in attack, leaving foreign forwards Ake Loba and Lukasz Zwolinski on the bench. 

Starting XI: Jalal Hassan, Ruben Ramirez, Maytham Jabbar Al-Farttoosi, Boaz Ngalamulume Bato, Ahmed Yahya Al-Hajjaj, Hussein Al-Saedi, Abdoul Magid Moumouni, Atheer Salih Al-Mousa, Leonel Ateba Mbida, Bassam Shakir Ahmed, Kingsley Kuku.

East Bengal: Prabhsukhan Gill (GK), Hardik Bhatt, Anwar Ali, Chungnunga, Edmund Lalrindika, Daniel Ramirez, Daviddavid Lalhlansanga, Diego Zivulic, Jeakson Singh, Jay Gupta, Basim Rashid.

Al Shorta enters the contest tonight unbeaten in its last eight matches. The Iraqi side also began its AFC Champions League campaign with a win over Al Seeb.

India international Anwar Ali is expected to return to East Bengal’s starting line-up after missing the IFA Shield final against Mohun Bagan Super Giant. 

East Bengal began its campaign with a 2-2 draw against Jordan’s Al Hussein. Dani Ramirez gave the Indian side lead in the ninth minute before Anwar Ali doubled the advantage. However, Mahmoud Al Mardi and Ahmad Assaf scored in the second half to deny East Bengal all three points.

East Bengal enters the match after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Mohun Bagan SG in the IFA Shield final last week. Samir Zeljkovic scored the winning goal for Mohun Bagan. The result came after East Bengal had defeated its city rival 4-1 in the Durand Cup final earlier this season.

Al Shorta leads Group D with three points after the opening round, followed by East Bengal and Al Hussein, who have a point each. Al Seeb remains without a point. With the top two teams advancing to the round of 16, a victory tonight would strengthen East Bengal’s position in the group.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the AFC Champions League Two clash between East Bengal and Al Shorta SC at Salt Lake Stadium. It’ll be me, Jayantho, keeping you posted with live updates from the match.
Stay tuned for team news; match K.O. at 7:15 PM IST.