East Bengal are all set to miss their Japanese midfielder Ryuji Sueoka due to a knee injury, when they take on Kuwait SC in the AFC Cup away-leg semifinal on October 1.
But there is a good news for East Bengal as defending champions Kuwait SC, who are eying a record third title, will also miss their defender Yaqoub Al Taher, who picked up a red card in their 5-0 win (12-2 aggregate) over New Radiant SC yesterday.
As the victorious team members arrived this evening to a hero's welcome, the Japanese recruit was wheelchair-bound as he made a quiet entry.
"We will conduct an MRI tomorrow to know the status of the injury, but he's all certain to miss the away leg (on October 1)," an East Bengal official said.
Besides Sueoka, all other players in the team are fit and the team has no card problem, the official added.
East Bengal came back from behind to draw at Padang 1-1 to make the AFC Cup semifinals for the first time with a 2-1 aggregate score.
Sueoka, who had scored the solitary goal in the first and home leg victory over Semen Padang, was stretched off in the 43rd minute with an injury after a clash with the Indonesian goalkeeper Jandia Eka Putra.
