AGENCIES
SINGAPORE: The Indian powerhouse Churchill Brothers will face Warriors FC of Singapore in the return leg of AFC Cup on Wednesday at Jalan Besar Stadium, here, with an aim to garner three points.
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After a poor start to the AFC Cup, Churchill came back strongly in their last match against Singapore side Warriors by scoring thumping 3-0 victory at Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune to keep their hope alive in the competition.
Churchill will miss their talismanic captain Beto. The playmaker will not feature in the next few matches for the club because of his injury which he picked up in the I-League match.
Mariano Dias will be happy to see Sunil Chhetri in the team after facing visa problems. The Indian international striker was impressive in the last two outings and showed leadership ability upfront for the club. Henry Athchoute and Bilal Arezou are yet to fire for the club, but these players have quality in them. The duo will be eager to perform for the club and will be threat for the Warrior’s defence.
In the absence of the Brazilian playmaker Beto, the Churchill midfield looks weak. The Brazilian used to be the supply line for the strikers and the team has failed to find a replacement for him in the midfield. Young lads Jason Vales and Bikramjit Singh have also scored for Churchill but they need to perform consistently. The experience of Lenny Rodrigues, Steven Dials’ and Tomba Singh will play a big role. These players will need to play up to their potential and help the team get three points.
Defence has looked shaky in recent times and Senegalese Lamine Tamba has not been able to fill the void of the Lebanese international Bilal Najjarine. Ravanan has performed very well and deserves to get a captain arm band in the absence of Beto. Denzil Franco needs to get his act together after an inconsistent season so far.
Warriors FC have been weakest team so far in the group. The Singapore club, which is the only club from the country to play in Asian Champion’s League, is at the bottom of the table.
