East Bengal suffer another defeat

The Kolkata side kept at bay their fancied rivals at bay for half an hour but conceded three goals after that in seven minutes to virtually seal the tie in the Kuwaiti club’s favour.
Al Qadsia scored through Soud Al Mejmed (30th minute), Abdulaziz Al Meshan (35th), Ahmad Ajab (37th) and Bader Al Motawaa (85th).

East Bengal pulled one back in the 59th minute through Mehtab Hossain.
The victory took Al Qadsia to the top of the four-team group with eight points, one more than Al Ittihad of Syria and Al Nejmeh of Lebanon.

Yet to open their account in Group D, East Bengal are out of semifinal contention and their remaining two matches — against Al Ittihad in Aleppo on April 20 and Al Nejmeh on April 27 in Kolkata — have become inconsequential.

Two top teams from each of eight groups will qualify for the knock-out round of 16. Al Qadsia were the better side in the early stages of the match and had their first chance in the 15th minute when Al Meshan’s effort went over the crossbar.

But the pressure from the home side paid off at the hour mark when Al Meshan crossed into the East Bengal penalty box for Ahmad Ajab, who knocked the ball on for Al Mejmed to score.

Al Qadsia doubled the lead in the 35th minute from a set piece with Al Meshan curling in a powerful free kick into the top right corner past East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant Kumar Singh.

The game was over as a contest two minutes later when Jehad Al Hussien sent a long cross from the back to Ajab who broke the offside trap and rounded off East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant Kumar before placing the ball into the empty net.

East Bengal scored in the 59th minute through Mehtab but they suffered another blow when when substitute striker Al Motawaa fired home a free kick.