GUWAHATI, May 23 - Host Mohun Bagan will take on Tampines Rovers of Singapore in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup Round of 16 match here at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Sarusajai tomorrow.
The host team will miss the services of their star players captain Katsumi Yusa and the inform forward Sony Norde. The Japanese midfielder Katsumi suffered an ankle injury in the recently held Federation Cup final against Aizwal FC. On the other hand Norde is away on national duty for Haiti�s Copa America campaign.
Bagan topped the Group G while the Singapore outfit occupied the second position in Group E after the league phase.
In comparison to the Kolkata giants, the visiting team�s campaign has been far from satisfactory as during the league phase they were not impressive. Moreover, their star striker Billy Mehmet will miss tomorrow�s match for his late red card in the last match. The visitors also have injury problem as their midfielder Yasir Hanapi has to sit out tomorrow. Yasir was the man who scored against Selangor FA and that goal put them through to the last-16 stage.
The Singapore team management can utilise the service of Canadian forward Jordan Webb, who was quite impressive in their domestic league.
Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen is in a positive mind set after winning the Federation Cup outplaying Aizwal FC 5-0 on Saturday at the same venue. Prior to the Federation Cup final, Sen�s team played three AFC Cup matches at the Sarusajai stadium here and the venue became quite familiar for the team.
Tomorrow the Bagan coach will have to heavily depend on national team�s striker Jeje Lalpekhlua in absence of Sony. However, it will be interesting to see how he sets midfield in the absence of Yusa and Norde.
Bagan will definitely start as favourite tomorrow as they have defeated Rovers in the AFC Champions League qualifiers 3-1.
The knock-out match will start at 7 pm.
