In the wake of the recent turn of events and after lengthy consultation with the Bengaluru Police, the AFC and the AIFF, we at Bengaluru FC have had to take an extremely hard decision of playing Wednesday’s AFC Cup quarterfinal against Tampines Rovers at the Kanteerava Stadium, behind closed doors.
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This decision was made yesterday evening, and it comes after violent protests and riots that have rocked the Indian city this week.
“The match will now be played behind closed doors, and has been rescheduled to 4 pm. This is our chance to take a big step ahead in the tournament and we will give it everything we have”, he said. There are things you can’t control and the main objective is to play the game.
In the midst of a tense situation in the city, the visiting team were forced to train at their hotel’s auto park as training sessions at the match venue had to be abandoned. “But the situation here in delicate and we had to take this decision”, Ghouse said, adding that both teams had a training session at the Kanteerva Stadium on Tuesday. The city and surrounding area are.
Night curfew has also been imposed in 16 police station limits and public gatherings were banned in a bid to rein in the unrest. Wednesday’s match at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, the home of Bengaluru FC, is the first of a two-legged contest of this premier Asian tourney.
He said: “These distractions were minor”. We were still in recovery phase though.
However, Akbar played down any advantage for his players. They lost 2-1 to fellow I-league side DSK Shivajians, before going down 1-0 to Ozone FC, winners of the 2015 Bangalore Super Division in a match where striker Sunil Chhetri started up front for Bengaluru FC. “Everyone wants to play with support but we will try to do our best”.
The club, on its website and official Twitter feed, said they had to “improvise” after their practice session had to be abandoned due to “Bollywood-tinged drama on Bengaluru streets”. “We’ve got to be tactically smart in how we set ourselves up, which depends on the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game”.
There’s been a managerial change since their I-League win, though, and while Albert Roca’s arrival has been met with appreciation for his work with youth development in the past, his credentials in handling the pressure of expectations in continental competition across two legs will be the sternest possible start for his first Indian assignment.
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Said the Spaniard at a press conference: “Six weeks may not be much, but it’s enough to be sure about our qualities”.
