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2018 Confederation Cup Final
Saturday 3/11/2018

East Bengal vs Pune FC

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Attendance: 56,991


Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, India

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Line-ups

East Bengal

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Team News - Bhowmick, Gaikwad (Suspended), Dika, Rao (injured)


Pune FC

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Team News - Mascarenhas, Fernandes & 7 others (Injured)

Pune are in the middle of an injury crisis with 9 first team players set to miss the final! On the other hand most of our guys have now fully recovered. Our biggest loss will be Lalkamal Bhowmick to suspension, gutted for him he's been sensational for us. :'(

Odds

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Highlights

6 min - a scuffed shot by Tavora falls into the path of the on rushing Benali, he shoots but it cannons off the post. Phew! We've started poorly :S

9 min - Ngasa burns his man, gets to the byline & chips a cross onto the head of Iban Salvador! It hits the post & goes out. Salomao is beaten to the rebound, he doesn't look sharp today.

Just as I say that we win the ball back, Brattan finds Salomao in the box & he buries his shot in the far corner! 1-0

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14 min - Ngasa gets past his man again & cuts a ball back to Salvador his shot is blocked. The goal has made all the difference, we look confident & are dominating play.

19 min - Mustafa Nadhim gets a free header from a corner but puts it over. Another goal would settle my nerves.

23 min - Another corner, another Nadhim free header misses the target. If we don't soon take a chance I fear we will regret it!

26 min - Brattan whips in a free kick that finds Opiyo unmarked on the far post, he hits his volley straight at the keeper, saved! We look like scoring from every set piece we get!

31 min- Another corner, another Nadhim free header, this time he finds the back of the net!!! It had to come sooner or later! 2-0

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35 min - A **** over our defence finds Nikhail Fernandes in space. He takes the shot on the volley & beats the keeper! OFFSIDE! Still 2-0.

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42 min - Brattan swings in a free kick, Mustafa Nadhim just about pushes Iban Salvador off the ball, takes a shot but its well wide.

Halftime

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I tell the team not to get complacent!

63 min - I'm contemplating a change but am unsure what to do. They have been far more competitive so far this half & are creating the odd half chance.

64 min - Salomao skins his opposite, chips the ball to the un marked Salvador who hits his shot straight at the keeper! He's been wasteful today.

65 min - I sub Salvador for D'Cunha, his latest miss made up my mind.

68 min - Another Brattan free kick finds an unmarked player, this time its young CB Bhattacharya who nods wide.

75 min - Brattan off, Guererro on. Luke is exhausted!

80 min - The defence backs off Ngasa allowing him to stroll into the box, he lines up a shot & beats the keeper. Bizarre! 3-0. THE TITLE IS OURS!!!

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85 min - Opiyo off, Sarkar on.

Fulltime

We've won the Confederation Cup! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

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Match Report

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It has taken me 3 hours to do this post!!! Watched the match & did the highlights on the fly, I'm over it! will bring you the post match celebrations, news items etc. at a later date. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy it!




 
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Sunday 4th November 2018

East Bengal Celebrate History

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East Bengal are today celebrating the biggest win in their 98 year history after the Kolkata club last night beat fellow Indian side Pune FC to lift the Asian Confederation Cup. The victory also marks the first time an Indian club has ever lifted an AFC trophy & signifies the arrival of Indian football on the continental stage.

The Times has secured an exclusive interview with the mastermind behind the club's success, East Bengal manager C.J. Lippo.

Reporter: First off, I would like to congratulate you on the ACC victory, you must be very proud?

Lippo: Of course. There was a lot of hard work put in to achieve this result, I am just so happy for the guys.

R: Your side were heavily favoured before the game, were you confident you could come home with the trophy?

L: I never really feel confident before these kind of matches. I knew the boys had worked hard & prepared well, I think hopeful would be a more accurate description of my pre match emotions.

These games are always tough, the outcome can usually be determined by a bit of luck here or a touch of brilliance there. Its hard for me to feel confident about such things, though I had faith that the guys would give it their all.

R: Speaking of your players, Lalkamal Bhowmick was a key player for you throughout the tournament, how upset is he to miss out on the final?

L: He's obviously disappointed to miss the final but he is as much a part of this success as anyone. Without him we would most likely not of made it here, I have already spoken to him & made sure he understood that, even tried to give him my winners medal but he wouldn't take it. "i'll get one of my own, thanks." he said.

R: Pune FC were missing a incredible 9 first team players due to injury heading into the match, is there a part of you that feels for them?

L: (long pause) I suppose so, yes. Its really unfortunate for them, football can be cruel at times. They have had incredible success in recent years though, I'm sure they will bounce back.

R: Your side was fairly dominant but left it late to secure the win, were you nervous at all?

L: Of course. These games are all about momentum, a swing either way can often decide them. I always believed in the guys though & they got the job done.

R: Well thank you for your time, get out there & enjoy it!

L: I will, thank you. The first one's on me!


 
Wow congrats mate. Read through this topic over the course over the last few days and this has been amazing. So much fun to read and some good progress made. I tip my hat to you sir.
 
Wow congrats mate. Read through this topic over the course over the last few days and this has been amazing. So much fun to read and some good progress made. I tip my hat to you sir.

Thank you very much mate, really appreciate that.
 
Thank you very much mate, really appreciate that.

Made me realize that management outside of Europe may be much more fun than I realized. I did a brief stint in Indonesia back in FM'11 but never looked at it after that. This gives me new incentive to try it out :).

I take it the continental title is the Asian equivalent of the Euro league, am I right? Considering that and your 3rd place this season, will you look onwards or will you try and make India a power-house football nation?
 
Thanks mate, its good to finally get a foothold in the Asian comps. Very satisfying after 5 years of trying!


No worries, man, it's a pretty awesome achievement! Now to get a few more titles under your belt and hopefully raise the profile of the Indian game! Gotta' be honest, I think you may well have inspired me to do something similar with a similarly low-rep nation! Keep it up!
 
No worries, man, it's a pretty awesome achievement! Now to get a few more titles under your belt and hopefully raise the profile of the Indian game! Gotta' be honest, I think you may well have inspired me to do something similar with a similarly low-rep nation! Keep it up!

ACC is pretty much the Asian Europa league, however unlike the europa league the bigger leagues (Japan, China etc.) Dont have participants. Its more like an Asian comp for the developing countries from what i can tell.

It is still quite an achievement for an Indian side to win it but there is a lot more work ahead if i am to make Indian football competetive in the Asian Champions League & that is my minimum goal!
 
Just realised i've quoted the wrong person, god im useless lol

Hireax the above response was to your query

DeathRage: thanks for your support & i highly recommend taking on a challenge like this, not a short term thing but is very rewarding!
 
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2018 Confederation Cup Stats & Awards

Top Goal Scorer

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Iban Salvador picks up the award for leading goal scorer with 11 goals in 13 appearances.

Most Valuable Player

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A massive tournament for the Equatoguinean. As well as the leading scorer he also dished out the most assists (7) & produced an average rating of 7.88.

After a less then impressive first league campaign Iban's performances in Asia have more than justified his signing. Very happy with the former Valencia man ATM.

Attendances

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So we finish up 3rd on the average attendance list. 29,000 is maybe a bit disappointing when you think that, on average, that leaves 99,000 empty seats in our (MASSIVE) stadium!!! Even the final only attracted 60,000ish! Not a lot when you think we attracted 80,000 to a league game against Mohammedan early last year.

The Lippo Love-Fest

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Umm, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we were actually bundled out of the Durand Cup in the group stages, rather embarrassingly I might add.

A Cup Double is still not a bad effort for my first season here though.

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Prize Money

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181k may not sound like a lot but it is a massive boost to our bottom line.


Career Prospects

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Not at the moment, thanks mate, although at some point I may well turn this into a journey man save & try my luck at getting to the top in Europe.

First things first, though. I still have plenty to do here yet.

 
Nice to see you're growing of a reputation for yourself mate!
 
Very good story i especially like how you don't drag it out to 5 pages per season it is very well wrote and congrats on the Asian Cup success
 
C.J. Lippo

A Man in Demand!



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Guangzhou, for anyone who hasn't heard of them, are one of the biggest & richest clubs in Asia. IRL the great Marcelo Lippi is the boss! Quite an honour to be offered an interview, would be rude to pass it up!

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A quick look at my profile will show you why this is so hard to turn down! The opportunity to lead the mighty Bantams to the premiership is not easily passed on. No harm in attending an interview is there?

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Spanish 3rd division? No thank you!


Two very hard to refuse offers there I must admit. Unfortunately its just too soon for me to leave India. :S


On a side note I am just about done with the Durand Cup so actual "Footballing" updates wont be too far away!



 
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