Al Seeb have not scored in three ACL Two games, and East Bengal host them tonight still looking for a first win
East Bengal are third in Group D on two points, and a win at the Salt Lake Stadium would put second place back within reach.
Nov 3, 2026
East Bengal play Al Seeb at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata tonight, kick-off 7:15pm IST, a week after the two sides drew 0-0 in Oman. Halfway through Group D of the AFC Champions League Two, East Bengal have two points and no wins, and Mohammed Rashid said on Monday that the players are treating it as a final. Anything less than a win, and second place starts to look a long way off.
Where the group stands
Al Shorta of Iraq lead on seven points and Al Hussein of Jordan have five, after the two drew 1-1 in Baghdad last Tuesday. East Bengal are third on two, and Al Seeb are bottom on one. The top two go through to the round of 16.
East Bengal have drawn 2-2 in Amman, lost 3-2 at home to Al Shorta after leading 2-1 at half-time, and drawn in Oman. Al Seeb have not scored in three games. That is the case for tonight in one line: if East Bengal are going to win a group game, this is the one.
The other game in the group is on later tonight, Al Hussein against Al Shorta in Jordan at 9:30pm IST. A home win tonight would lift East Bengal to five points. If Al Shorta then win in Jordan, East Bengal would go into the last two rounds level with Al Hussein for second place. A draw there would leave them a point behind Al Hussein, and an Al Hussein win would leave them two behind Al Shorta.
Habas wants more precision
Antonio López Habas said after the game in Oman that his side had been too tired to win it. On Monday he said he is happy with the physical state of the squad now, but the schedule leaves no room to work on much. “We only have two training sessions,” he said, one for recovery and one for tactics.
His bigger complaint is finishing. East Bengal have made chances in this competition, and David Lalhlansanga’s two goals against Al Shorta still were not enough. “We need precision,” Habas said. When a side gets five or six chances and does not take them, he said, that is where the problem lies, and he put some of it down to nerves at this level.
Rashid said much the same, and added that luck plays a part: the chances are coming, and nobody who gets one wants to miss it.
The two games that decide it
After tonight, East Bengal go back to the ISL, starting at Chennaiyin on Saturday. The last two group games are against the two sides above them: Al Hussein in Kolkata on 24 November, then Al Shorta in Baghdad on 8 December. Three points against the team below them is the minimum if those games are to mean anything.