Kolkata: The scoreboard said 0-2. The group table said something else. East Bengal's women qualified for the quarter-finals of the AFC Women's Champions League on Saturday despite losing their final Group B match to 4.25 SC of North Korea at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan.
It is the first time an Indian club has reached the knockout stage of Asia's top women's club competition. East Bengal missed out on goal difference last season. This time the margin fell their way.
4.25 SC topped Group B with nine points, Hwacheon KSPO of South Korea took second with six, and East Bengal finished third with three points and a goal difference of -4. Myanmar's Ayeyawady, the other contender for the two best third-place spots, finished on -6.
The match itself was one-way early. Pak Ok-i crossed from the right in the second minute and Han Jin-hong headed in. In the 43rd, a free-kick caused chaos in the East Bengal box and Oh Sol-song finished from the loose ball.
After the break, coach Anthony Andrews packed the defence. Goalkeeper Elangbam Panthoi Chanu made the saves that mattered, and Adama Alhassan, Abena Opoku, Shilky Devi and Sushmita Lepcha held the line. No third goal came, and that was the whole point.
"I had already given up hope of qualification after the first half, but the girls showed why we are here," Andrews said. "The character was tremendous." Of last season's exit, he said: "Last year the heartbreak process, that five seconds changed everything for all of us." And of what comes next: "This is not the end. We will be more improving as a club and as a team."
The platform was laid on November 1, when East Bengal beat Ho Chi Minh City WFC 2-1. They then lost 1-4 to Hwacheon KSPO on November 4, which is why Saturday's margin mattered so much.
The knockout draw will be held at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on December 3. East Bengal go in unseeded and could meet defending champions Naegohyang Women's FC, Group C winners PFC Nasaf or Melbourne City. The quarter-finals are scheduled for March 27 and 28, 2027.