East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon remained optimistic despite suffering a narrow defeat against FC Arkadag in the AFC Challenge League quarter-final first leg at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Wednesday.

A first-half strike from Yazgylych Gurbanov ended up being the difference as the Red and Gold Brigade went down fighting against the Turkmenistan side. Despite the Kolkata giants putting in a valiant effort, a lack of precision in the final third prevented them from finding the back of the net.

Bruzon’s men generated a couple of offensive moves in both halves but lacked the efficiency in the final third as FC Arkadag defenders stood strong to keep the slender one-goal lead. Charyyev Rasul’s crucial saves under the bars and Saparov and Bashimov’s rock-solid partnership at the heart of the defense line helped FC Arkadag secure a victory in Kolkata, providing them an edge advantage ahead of the second leg.

Bruzon rued missed opportunities as the Red and Gold Brigade fell short in scoring the equaliser despite having a couple of chances courtesy of Saul Crespo and Messi Bouli. The head coach conveyed his dissatisfaction with the final outcome of the game but remained positive considering the way his team played, especially offensively.

“Not the result we wanted, but it was a promising performance. There are 90 more minutes,” Bruzon said in the post-match press conference.

“Today, the difference was efficiency, something that we were talking a lot about during this season, being better on the boxes. They had their two or three chances, and they capitalized. We did a tremendous effort, trying everything, trying internal balls, trying set pieces, trying crosses, but we could not convert today. We have 90 more minutes, and the mood in the dressing room is perfect. It's about getting the first goal in the away game,” he added.

Bruzon acknowledged the opponent’s strengths and urged his players to cut down the silly errors to get a favorable outcome. However, the Spaniard believed that the result could have been different given the chances East Bengal FC had in the game.

“Yes, as we said, it's not the result we wanted, and actually I also think that it's not the result we deserved,” he stated.

“But we need to take into consideration the kind of competition that it is, that all the small details count a lot. So today in the build-up, we lost the ball, and we could see that in the two or three chances that they had close to the box, we could see the quality of the opponent's movements and the quality of the shooting,” he continued.

East Bengal FC will face FC Arkadag in the second leg of the AFC Challenge League quarterfinal in Turkmenistan. Bruzon remained optimistic about turning the tide in their favour in the away fixture to make their way through to the next round.

“We have 90 minutes in Turkmenistan. I think that now they need to think about what they want to do with the result, if they want to hold it, and if they want to attack us with their home advantage. And for us, the plan is going to be there all-in, trying to score the first goal,” he remarked.

“If we do that, we are going to elevate our mood, our confidence, and we are going to try to win this quarter-final. I think that the result looks bad looking at home, but the result gives us a lot of possibilities to start the game all-in and try to get the first goal. And again, I think that besides the bad result, I think that we are going to be there to try to qualify,” Bruzon signed off.

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