Pereira has promised a fight

New Delhi: On Tuesday, Bob Houghton would be back at the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium — but only as a spectator.

Exactly 19 days after he guided the Indian team to a memorable Nehru Cup triumph at the same venue, the national coach would be there to watch Mahindra United play Lebanon’s Al Nejmeh in the AFC Cup quarter final home match.

“Houghton is arriving tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon from South Africa specially to watch this match,” said an AIFF official.

On October 8, India will take on Lebanon in the World Cup qualifiers in Beirut and three Lebanese national team players are in the present Al Nejmeh squad. It would be a good opportunity for Houghton to watch these players in action.

“They seem to be a very good team but we will fight it out,” promised Mahindra United coach Derek Pereira, who is still unhappy with the standard of supervision in the Federation Cup final.

Four players, who switched allegiance to Mahindra from Mohun Bagan at the start of the season, could not be registered. “They have already played for Mohun Bagan in the ongoing tournament,” Pereira said. They are: Manas Das, Gautam Debnath, Surojit Bose and D. Ravanan.

Two Al Nejmeh players — Hussein Dokmak and Hussein Neim — became victims of terrorism last year, said coach Nenad Starvic. Both were killed after a bomb exploded in their car.

Because of it being Ramzan time, the match will kick off at 9 pm.