KOLKATA, Feb 6 (Agencies) : National Football League champions East Bengal leaves for Singapore late tomorrow sans two of their star players to play Geylang United Football Club in the first round of the AFC Cup on Feburary 10.
Brazilian Douglas de silva, a dependable midfield blocker who played a stellar role in the club's ASEAN Cup triumph last year, has stayed away from the game for the last five months following a stress fracture and his absence has caused a few worries to coach Subhas Bhowmick.
Also missing from the line-up would be the injured wing back Ghanaian Suley Musah, another ASEAN hero and a pillar in the East Bengal defensive armour.
A cloud of uncertaintly also hangs over the availability of defenders M Suresh and Surkumar Singh, with the former having visa problems, and the latter carrying an injury.
"If I don't get these two for this match, the defence will suffer," Bhowmick said.
The coach, who was scheduled to name the squad for the Singapore trip this morning, decided to delay the announcement till tomorrow to get a clear picture about the available players.
However, he asserted that he would rather look at the positives than the negatives.
"Though I'll miss Douglas and Musah, I now have Christiano Junior, who was not there during the ASEAN Cup campaign in Jakarta," Bhowmick told newspersons after the morning practice session.