Both East Bengal and APF Club have reached the finals. But the final match of the league stage between these two clubs will be played at the Dashrath Stadium on Wednesday.
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Both East Bengal and APF Club have reached the final. But the last match of the league stage between these two clubs will be played on Wednesday at the Dashrath Stadium. This will be a rehearsal for the SAFF Women's Club Championship Football Final.
In the first match of the day, Bhutan's Transport United and Bangladesh's Nasrin Sports Academy will face each other. This will be a prestigious match in itself. It will decide who will finish third.
All eyes will be on the match between the champions of the women's league in India and Nepal. The result of this match will decide who will win the group. East Bengal, which has achieved a 100% result from three matches, is currently at the top with 9 points. APF is also undefeated, but is limited to 7 points due to one draw. Both teams have not conceded a single goal.
A draw will be enough for East Bengal to stay at the top and finish the league, while APF needs a win. But even if the results are the same, it will not make any difference in the final equation. East Bengal and APF, who are in the top two of the total 5-team tournament, had completed the formalities of entering the final before their last match.
In a way, these two teams were expected to reach the final. And so it happened. The paths chosen by both are different. While East Bengal's journey has been smooth so far, APF has not been able to find a rhythm. Since both teams have already reached the final, it will be interesting to see what strategy they will adopt in the next match. All kinds of options are open to both teams.
There is an opportunity for both. That is, to field their second-choice players. This will be an opportunity for APF in particular to check how their bench is. This could be a good option in a situation where APF itself is in the first stage of undergoing a team restructuring. But no, if they want to find the right rhythm before the final, APF can adopt a policy of fielding its strongest team.
A goalless draw with Transport, who were second in the last edition of the Bhutan Women's League, is a disappointing result for APF. Although APF defeated Pakistan's Karachi City in the last match, it was a victory margin, 1-0. The 4-0 win against Nasrin in the first match was not exactly a show of achievement. This fact is probably well understood by coach Jeeves Pandey.
He has not praised the Sidha-Sidha team's journey so far. Instead, he has said that the 3 points in the win against Karachi are big. What he knows very well is that the absence of some key players is causing problems. However, there is no alternative for that at the moment. Should APF also think about foreign players now? This is another question.
On the other hand, East Bengal coach Anthony Samson is happy with his team's performance of three consecutive wins. He has shown his desire to maintain this rhythm. He has said that when facing APF before the final, he will try to give the opponent as much pressure as possible. This means that East Bengal will field all its key players available.
In this situation, everyone's attention will be on one player. She is Ugandan forward Fazila Ekwateput. She has scored 7 goals in the tournament. Out of which, she scored 5 goals alone in the match against Nasreen. Her performance suggests that she is one of the best players in the South Asian women's football scene. The APF is not happy without finding a way to stop her.
