Kalinga Super Cup 2024: East Bengal Coach Carles Cuadrat Says Club Has Registered All Six Foreign Players For Competition

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Cuadrat confirmed the news during the pre-match press conference of the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 opener as East Bengal take on Hyderabad FC in Group A in the afternoon kick-off. The Spanish coach further added that there is a possibility to add some domestic players as clubs can add players for the tournament until January 13.

In build-up to the tournament, East Bengal reportedly were trying to sign former AS Roma forward Iago Falque, who further reportedly refused a short-term deal to join the club. The Kolkata Giants wanted to be cautious with the big-money move and wanted the 34-year-old Spanish footballer to prove his worth during the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 before offering him a long-term deal.

This subsequently means misfiring Spanish striker Javier Siverio has kept his place in the East Bengal squad for the time being and must prove his worth in Bhubaneswar, starting with the match against his former club Hyderabad FC.

Speaking of Wednesday's match, which gets underway at 2 PM IST at the Kalinga Stadium Pitch 1, head coach Carles Cuadrat said he is not reading into the fact that Hyderabad FC are at the bottom of the ISL 2023-24 points table and have respect for the side as they made things difficult when they last faced off back in September.

"Hyderabad are playing very good football. They've not been lucky enough with results, but if you see their games they have created enough chances and have gotten very close to getting results in a lot of games so we have a lot of respect for them," said coach Carles Cuadrat during the pre-match press conference.

"It was not easy for us to get three points at home that was only just because of the added minute free kick (by Cleiton Silva as East Bengal won 2-1) or else that would've been a draw. Before that, we played a friendly and they defeated us 1-0. They will try to play a difficult game, so we must be very focused and take advantage of our chances otherwise it'll be tough to get a result."

Apart from the Hyderabad game, East Bengal will square off with arch-rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giants later in Group A as only one team will qualify for the semis. The other team in the group is another Hyderabadi outfit Sreenidi Deccan. Coach Carles Cuadrat said they are prepared to play without Noarem Mahesh Singh and Lalchunnunga, who are away on national duty at the AFC Asian Cup 2024.

"We are ready. We've been training here in Bhubaneswar for two days and are ready for the games ahead. It's a very powerful group with strong teams and only one team goes into the semi-finals. But we're ready; we will try to compete and we will try to reach another final like we did just a few months ago in Durand Cup. That is the aim of the players and the club," said Cuadrat.

"We will not be able to play our best team on the pitch, we are missing key players in Lalchungnunga and Mahesh Singh and we have to provide players that can get the results for us in those positions. It's not about giving confidence to the youngsters, it is about to get results, so we will use our best players at the moment to try to fight for the Trophy."