East Bengal coach Marcos Falopa's comments stir controversy

Marcos Falopa

East Bengal may be one of the best football teams in India over the last few years, and they have reached the semifinal of AFC cup, but their start in I-league of this year has not gone so well. They have managed only 6 points after 4 matches where they have faced defeat in two home matches. They were beaten by Salgaocar in their last match at Kalyani Stadium. The result was 2-3 for the home side.

Questions were raised by the supporters and experts that they are not seeing the fluent passing game of East Bengal. Supporters were shouting the name of former east Bengal Coach Trevor James Morgan during the match. Because of that, Falopa lost his temperament. And there was also a problem between striker Moga and Falopa.

When the match finished, the supporters shouted “Go back Falopa, come back Morgan”, which Falopa did not like. Supporters also showed their shoes to the new coach in protest. The response to that protest came out from the Brazilian in the press conference when he was asked that if he is having problems selecting his first eleven. He replied , “You must be a good friend of Morgan, may be you two used to have drinks together”.

People were surprised hearing this comment from a veteran coach. Well known coach of Bengal Manoranjan Bhattacharya said, “If you train a big club, you have to face such situations, but Falopa is not accustomed to these situations.” Club official Debabarata Sarkar said that if Falopa had said that, officials will not support that and would have a talk with Falopa about the issue.

However, before this Diwali, controversies are not leaving East Bengal.