Crucial match for Bengal, Churchill

Crucial match for Bengal, Churchill
HERALD SPORTS DESK
PANJIM, JAN 28
East Bengal will meet Churchill Brothers in a crucial 12th round I-League match at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata tomorrow ay 1.45 p.m.
While East Bengal are at the top of the league table with 29 points from 11 matches, Churchill Brothers are placed 3rd with 22 points.
Churchill Brothers would definitely want to reduce the gap between the two teams. Odafa Onyeka Okolie is in tremendous form having scored 15 goals so far in this edition of I- league, out of the 26 goals scored by Churchill Brothers. He is way ahead in the list of the top goal scorers.
Odafa, however, did not train today due to a muscle pain and coach Vincent Subramaniam will take a call on Saturday morning whether the ace striker is fit enough to take part in the match.
Churchill Brothers coach’s main worry  is their defence, which has conceded nine goals. They will have a tough task in their hand tomorrow to curtail East Bengal strikers from scoring.
On the other hand, east Bengal are unbeaten so far in the I-League with nine wins and two draws. Their Asian recruit Tolgey Ozbey has been their leading scorer with eight goals. East Bengal supremo, Trevor Morgan seems to be satisfied with the performance of back-four as they have conceded only two goals.
East Bengal are slightly ahead in tomorrow’s match due to their strong defence led by Uga Okpara. The spectators tomorrow will surely watch an intriguing battle between him and Odafa. Their midfield is also in prime form led by Mehtab Hussain and Penn Orji. Both the midfielders have been the backbone of East Bengal and not only initiated the majority of attacks, but also have done their defensive duty with aplomb.
A host of players have joined both the teams from Indian camp. While Rahim Nabi, Sushil Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Baljit Saini have joined East Bengal, Steven Dias, Gourmangi Singh’s presence will surely strengthen the Churchill side.
Churchill coach, Vincent Subramaniam, looked confident as he said, “Whether Odafa will play or not does not matter, our target is three points as we have won matches without him too, which shows out strength in all.’’
East Bengal coach, Trevor Morgan, was a bit cautious on the other hand. “Odafa is definitely a good player, and we have made plans for him, but we will have to continue with our good run and get three points from the match.”
Uga Okpara said, “Odafa is the best striker at this moment in India, but I will try to stop him from scoring tomorrow. The last time we met in Federation Cup, we won the match.”
 Air India meet Mohun Bagan and  Indian Arrows face Viva Kerala in the other matches tomorrow.