When Bengaluru FC walk out on home turf at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the second leg of their AFC Cup semi-final against holders Johor Darul Ta'zim on October 19, they will have the opportunity of going where no Indian club has gone before. By making the last four, they have already emulated Dempo and East Bengal's feats from 2008 and 2013 respectively, though both clubs had seen their campaigns end at that point. Two men closely associated with those AFC Cups are confident that Bengaluru have what it takes to go one better.
"Now that Bengaluru FC have drawn their away leg, I am confident they will do what is required of them and qualify," says Armando Colaco, the head coach of the Dempo team which had lost to Lebanese side Safa in the semi-finals, but had the satisfaction of beating eventual champions Muharraq away in Bahrain in the league stages.
"The AFC Cup in 2008 was devised in such a way that we had some really tough opponents, mostly from the Gulf countries. I will not take anything away from what Bengaluru FC have achieved already, but in the current format of the AFC Cup, it is completely possible for any Indian team to do really well in it," says Colaco, referring to a change in format since 2014, wherein Indian clubs are clubbed alongside teams from east Asia and are only likely to meet a west Asian country in the final.
When the old format was still in place, Shylo Malswamtluanga was with East Bengal when they went to the semi-finals unbeaten, meeting teams from Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and Indonesia along the way, before they were beaten by eventual champions Al-Kuwait. "It was a good learning experience for all of us, as AFC is a lot different from Indian football," says the man referred to as Mama in Indian football. "We realised you need to concentrate for longer periods, do a lot more physical work, and be more ready. Another thing you learn is that all teams are very tough."
While Colaco looks back fondly at a strong side where experienced Indian players like defender Mahesh Gawli, midfielders Climax Lawrence and Peter Carvalho combined well with talismanic foreign players like Beto and Ranti Martins, Mama rues exactly the absence of the same continuity about his club in that calendar year. "Perhaps our result would have been even better if the officials had been able to keep the same players together across the two or three years leading up to that year. Players came and players went. If you want to see results, you have to keep the team together and build it up for five to six years," he says.
The semi-finals themselves were not without drama, with Dempo's home game being shifted out from Goa due what Colaco ascribes to a floodlight failure at the Nehru Stadium in Margao. "I must commend the owners at Dempo, as they spent out of their pocket and took about eight or nine buses of supporters to Hyderabad," says Colaco. East Bengal had their own significant change, this time in managerial personnel, with Brazilian Marcos Falopa taking over just days before the semi-finals from predecessor Trevor Morgan of England. "Falopa was a good coach, but he didn't know anything about us players," says Mama. "He didn't have any time to prepare for the semi-finals, so he couldn't know anything about players and their strengths and weaknesses."
One thing Mama acknowledges is that Bengaluru have made light work of a similar coaching transition from Ashley Westwood to Alberto Roca. "Bengaluru FC have a very good chance and they have prepared themselves very well for this day. They must concentrate on playing good football. I think they have the ability to win this leg," he says.