Kalinga Super Cup final: Odisha FC take on East Bengal - preview

The Kalinga Super Cup, the premier club cup competition in Indian football, has reached its final stage, featuring Odisha FC and East Bengal FC as the last two standing teams. The title clash is set to take place on January 28th at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

Odisha FC secured their spot in the final with a narrow 1-0 victory over Mumbai City FC in the semis, while East Bengal advanced with a more comfortable 2-0 win over Jamshedpur FC. The champions of this cup will qualify for the preliminary stage of the 2024–25 AFC Champions League 2.

Odisha FC, as the defending champions, is poised to defend their title in front of the home crowd. Last year, they secured their first-ever Super Cup title with a 2-1 win over Bengaluru FC in the final.

Entering this year's final with four consecutive victories, Odisha FC has displayed an excellent goal-scoring form, netting a total of 8 goals in the group stage. Their journey includes a close 3-2 win against FC Goa in the final group stage match, securing their place in the playoffs.

"Our fans are very important to us. We can feel their support inside the pitch during the match. We are defending the title tomorrow. It will be a difficult game but we're ready," said Odisha defender Carlos Delgado

East Bengal are making it to the second cup final of the season after reaching the final of Durand Cup 2023 early in the season. There they just fell short of the title after losing by a narrow margin of 0-1 to their rivals Mohun Bagan SG. This is also a chance for the iconic club to make a comeback at the Asian Competition after 9-10 years.

They take the revenge of this defeat in the final group stage match against mohun Bagan SG making a resounding 3-1 victory to book a place in the final knocking their rivals out. Brazilian forward and team captain Cleiton Silva is the main man in the attacking front for the team who scores 4 goals so far in the tournament and also leading the race for the Golden Boot Award.

"We are feeling very good. We have been fighting for results for a long time. It's very important for us to be in another final. We couldn't win the first one (Durand Cup), so we'll try our best to get the result in this one," said East Bengal Head Coach Carlos Cuadrat.

Details:

Match:- East Bengal Vs Odisha FC

Time:- 7:30 PM IST - 28th January

Venue:- Kalinga stadium, Bhuvneshwar

Streaming:

The final match of Kalinga super Cup between Odisha FC and East Bengal will be broadcasted live on Sports18 network. Live streaming will also be available on Jio Cinema app and website.