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With the onset of the AFC club competitions for the 2024/25 season, the buzz has been about the no limit on foreign players. From the earlier 5+1 (five players of any nationality plus one of AFC member country) rule, teams can now field as many 11 overseas recruits.
But Mohun Bagan SG have been left shortchanged ahead of their opening match of the newly-branded AFC Champions League Two versus Tajikistan’s Ravshan Kulob at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday, September 18.
Jamie Maclaren, A-League’s record goalscorer, is yet to make his Bagan debut due to a prolonged injury. But a hammer blow has been dealt in the form of Alberto Rodriguez’s absence. The Spanish defender had to be substituted off in the 81st minute of the ISL 2024/25 opener last Friday. It was perhaps the same injury that forced a premature end to his Durand Cup final on August 31.
Maclaren trained with the team today, but Rodriguez wasn’t even seen on the pitch. When reporters waylaid the Aussie after the session, he said he is ready to play if the doctors deem him fit and the coach wants his services. Both of them, however, attended Mohun Bagan's practice at the club ground yesterday. Maclaren was kept out of the technical training, and Alberto came off after 30-odd minutes.
Jose Molina’s boys have conceded nine goals in the last four matches, after keeping clean sheets against Downtown Heroes and Indian Air Force in the league stage of the Durand Cup. As expected, the head coach was peppered with questions, rather doubts, about the Mariners’ defence. One of the reporters directly asked him if he too agreed that Mohun Bagan’s defensive capability was very poor.
“I don’t agree with that opinion, I absolutely don’t agree. I feel we are defending really well. But like I said after the last match, we made some mistakes in some moments which cost us goals. We have to improve that, not make those kind of mistakes. From my point of view, watching the whole 90 minutes, we defended really well.
“Mumbai City didn’t have a lot of chances to score. We defended really well against NorthEast and they didn’t have many chances to score. Your defence is poor when your opponent has a lot of chances to score. And that, in my opinion, did not happen in the last three matches,” Molina said in the pre-match press conference.
But the 54-year-old Spaniard insisted that he won’t change tactics because of the defensive frailties.
“I said before, our style of play is our style of play. We won’t change that. We will try to dominate games, try to score as many goals as possible and concede as less goals as possible. Of course every match is different, because we don’t play every match against the same team. And at this moment, I am not thinking too far ahead. I am only thinking of tomorrow’s match. We’ll try to play the best way possible and try to win,” he added.
In the now-rechristened AFC Cup last season, Mohun Bagan began with two consecutive wins – 4-0 vs Odisha FC and 2-1 vs Maziya S&RC. It was followed by a draw against Bashundhara Kings and three consecutive losses. In the season before, the Mariners topped their group but lost 1-3 to Kuala Lumpur City FC in the central zonal final.
Mohun Bagan SG possible line-up vs Ravshan Kulob in ACL Two 2024/25
With Alberto Rodriguez likely to miss tomorrow’s fixture, Sportskeeda has learnt that Mohun Bagan are pondering switching to a back four from Jose Molina’s favoured 3-5-2 formation. If he does budge, Tom Aldred and Dippendu Biswas will be deployed in the centre, with Asish Rai and captain Subhasish Bose on the right and left flanks, respectively.
If Rai is pushed down the field, Molina will have to field Manvir Singh as right wing-back. The India international, surprisingly, wasn’t even used as a substitute against Mumbai City FC. Greg Stewart, Apuia and Liston Colaco will fill up the rest of the space, with Dimitrios Petratos and Jason Cummings in attack. In the case of a three-man midfield, Sahal Abdul Samad might operate in between the marquee forwards.
Tom Aldred wasn’t spared either from questions about Mohun Bagan’s rearguard. The new recruit was asked if he was feeling the pressure with the team frequently conceding goals.
“For me, there's always pressure on you to keep clean sheets. Wherever I’ve played, that's what I'm there to do. As a team, we need to keep clean sheets to win games. We shouldn't need to score two or three goals to win a game. Yes, we conceded goals, but we’re improving every day and we want to get to the stage where we are keeping clean sheets. And obviously, in this competition, it’s going to be huge to keep clean sheets and stop the opposition from scoring,” Aldred, who played had a five-year stint at Brisbane Roar in the A-League, stated.
The Kolkata giants on September 15 announced the signing of Nuno Reis, who can double up as both centre-back and defensive midfielder. The Portuguese, though, has just applied for his visa.
“We needed one more defender, who can also play as a defensive midfielder. We don’t have too many defenders in the squad and we have to play a lot of matches in the ISL and the Champions League. It’s difficult to play all the matches with the same players. If there are injuries or something like that, we have signed one more defender for that. We’re waiting for him, and I am sure he’ll help us when he's sure and will stay with us,” Jose Molina hoped.
Ravshan Kulob, on the other hand, have all their seven foreigners fit and available for the match. Three from Ghana are part of their defensive unit. Asked if the visitors will have a physical superiority, the Mohun Bagan coach countered with the ‘to each their own’ adage.
“They have the team that they have, with the players they have. We have the squad that we have. They will try to put their best team tomorrow, and we will do the same. If any team has any, that is a part of the game. I’m not thinking if they have an advantage or no, because they have three Africans in their team. We decided to sign different kind of players because we felt that was the best for our team. And we are absolutely happy with the players we have here and have absolute confidence in all of them,” he explained.
Ravshan, however, might be faced with exhaustion, having already played 15 matches in the ongoing Tajikistan Higher League. Their season began as early as April 6.
All you need to know about Mohun Bagan SG’s opponents – Ravshan Kulob
Based out of Kulob in southern Tajikistan, the club was formed in 1965 by the name of FK Ansol Kulob. They had it changed to FK Olimp-Ansol Kulob in 2003, before agreeing on the current brand two years later.
Ravshan are currently third in the ongoing Tajikistan Higher League, with seven wins and two losses from 15 matches. Homegrown centre-forward Bakhtiyor Zaripov has scored five goals so far in their top-tier event, while goalkeeper Yevgen Grytsenko is third on the list with seven clean sheets.
They won the league in consecutive years in 2012 and 2013. They won the Tajik Cup twice as well, in 1994 and 2020. Their last major honour came in 2023 when they lifted the Tajik Super Cup.
Ravshan Kulob also finished third in Group E of AFC Cup 2023/24, failing to win a single game. Tellingly, in 21 outings in the Asian second tier men's club tournament, they have managed to win only once. The losses stand at 17 while three of them ended in a stalemate. They defeated Al-Yarmuk Al-Rawda from Yemen 2-1 in the 2014 qualifying playoff.
