East Bengal suffer fourth straight loss in afc-cup

East Bengal slumped to their fourth straight defeat in the AFC Cup as they suffered a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of Al Qadsia in their away match in Kuwait City. The Kolkata side kept at bay their fancied rivals, who had played in Asian Champions League thrice in the past, for half an hour but after that conceded three goals in seven minutes to virtually end the fight at Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium on Tuesday night. Al Qadsia scored through Soud Al Mejmed (30th minute), Abdulaziz Al Meshan (35th), Ahmad Ajab (37th) and Bader Al Motawaa (85th). For East Bengal pulled one back in the 59th minute through Mehtab Hossain.

The victory took Al Qadsia to the top of the four-team group with eight points, one more than Al Ittihad of Syria and Al Nejmeh of Lebanon. Yet to open their account in Group D, East Bengal are out of semi-final contention and their remaining two matches -- against Al Ittihad in Aleppo on April 20 and against Al Nejmeh on April 27 in Kolkata -- have become inconsequential. Two top teams from each of eight groups will qualify for the knock-out round of 16. Al Qadsia, who have several players from the Kuwaiti national sides, were the better side in the early stages of the match and had their first chance in the 15th minute when Al Meshan's effort went over the crossbar. But the pressure from the home side paid off at the hour mark when Al Meshan crossed into the East Bengal penalty box for Ahmad Ajab, who knocked the ball on for Al Mejmed to score. Al Qadsia doubled the lead in the 35th minute from a set piece with Al Meshan curling in a powerful free kick into the top right corner past East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant Kumar Singh. The game was over as a contest two minutes later when Jehad Al Hussien sent a long cross from the back to Ajab who broke the offside trap and rounded off East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant Kumar before placing the ball into the empty net. East Bengal started the second half brightly and should have pulled a goal back in the 58th minute when Yusif Yakubu hit a rasping free kick that was tipped over the crossbar by Al Qadsia goalkeeper Ali Al Rasheed.

However, the Indians found the target a minute later when Alvito D'Cunha sent a neat pass to Mehtab, whose drive from the top of box hit the back of Al Qadsia net. East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant was beaten five minutes before the end when substitute striker Al Motawaa fired home a free kick beyond the Indian goalkeeper. East Bengal coach Philippe de Ridder conceded that Al Qadsia deserved to win and his side lacked exposure at the Asian stage. "I have said before that we are not expected to win the competition as we are preparing this team for the future. Al Qadsia are a good side and they have experience as they have several players who play for the national team," he said. "They also have big experience in Asian competitions as they have played in the AFC Champions League before and they played well there. On the other hand, we don't have experience and some of our players are playing in the tournament for the first time," he added.