AFC Women's Champions League: East Bengal women seek to scale new summit in Asia

KOLKATA: Armed with hard-won lessons from last season, East Bengal women are on a mission to scale a new continental summit for Indian football. The two-time IWL winners begin their group stage campaign in the AFC Women's Champions League against Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh City WFC here on Sunday.In the last year's campaign held in China's Wuhan, Anthony Andrews' Moshal Girls became the first Indian side to win a match in the group stage of Asia's premier women's club competition but agonizingly stopped short of progressing to the quarterfinals after losing their last match 0-3 to PFC Nasaf of Uzbekistan. Had East Bengal lost that match 0-2, they would have progressed to the knockout stage.Now drawn in Group B, Anthony Andrews' Moshal Girls will also take on South Korea's Hwacheon KSPO WFC on Nov 4 and North Korea's 4.25 SC three days later. In a first for Indian football, East Bengal have been given the honour of hosting the AWCL Group Stage matches and their all three matches at Kishore Bharati Krirangan will kick off at 8pm."Last season's heartbreak helped us understand much better in terms of what the players should do at the bigger level. Obviously the game is faster at the international level and that's how we have strengthened the side this season. We have played a few good tactical games to understand if we can solve problems what we had faced last season," Andrews told reporters during the pre-match news conference at a New Town hotel on Saturday."The girls are ready to put their best foot forward," added the 30-year-old, who is also working with India's U-17 women's team as an assistant coach.The top two from three groups of four teams as well as the two best third-placed sides will advance to the quarterfinals from the 12-team group stage.With a mission to accomplish in Asian football, the red-and-gold management has bolstered the side with the acquisition of India internationals Rimpa Haldar and Thoibisana Chanu as well as Japan's Hitomi Tanaka and Ghanaian trio Olivia Anokye, Adama Alhassan and Abigail Antwi.East Bengal have qualified for the group stage for the second consecutive season after topping Group A in the competition's preliminary stage in Malaysia last Aug in breathtaking style, scoring 18 goals in three games and conceding none.Home is where the team's hopes lie now and midfielder Sathi Debnath is determined to make the most of it."The Kishore Bharati Krirangan has been a bastion of the club and this is the venue where I had got my first trophy with East Bengal women's team (Kanyashree Cup in 2023)," the midfielder said."Because of some momentary lapses, we missed out on the quarterfinal berth by a whisker last season. At home, we'll try to rectify those mistakes (of Wuhan campaign) and reach the knockouts," Debnath said, representing the team's new-look ambitions.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.