Kolkata, Aug. 16 -- When Anthony Andrews spoke of challenges ahead of the preliminary round of the AFC Women's Champions League, the East Bengal head coach meant missing key players and hoping one didn't miss connections from Casablanca to Sabah in Malaysia before Monday's opening game. To say East Bengal could be hard hit by Fazila Ikwaput's absence is understating the obvious. The Uganda international was prolific in the 2025-26 Indian Women's League scoring 18 goals in 13 matches as defending champions East Bengal made the title race a procession, finishing the season 14 points ahead of Sethu FC. It earned them a berth in Asia for the second successive season. It was a goal and an assist from Ikwaput, 25, that took East Bengal past Phnom Penh Crown and Kitchee FC at this stage last year and to the main round where they were a couple of stoppage-time minutes away from being among Asia's top eight clubs. Along with left-side attacker Resty Nanziri, Ikwaput will miss this round because of travel restrictions following the outbreak of the Ebola virus. "It is a big setback. Fazila is a poacher," Andrews told HT. "They understand how we want to play as a team. They are part of the team's core." With a bunch of local players who have made the first team this season, East Bengal trained in Kalyani for one month and played training games with local U-18 boys teams. Andrews also liaised with Ghana's staff so that Opoku doesn't miss the first game against Bangladesh's Rajshahi Stars. "She missed our pre-season," said Andrews, 30. Add missing India players Karthika Angamuthu and Sandhiya Ranganathan because they had employers' commitments and Sweety Devi, also an international, to a long-term knee injury and it is not difficult to understand why Andrews said preparations in 2025 was better. "This time, we knew whom we wanted but some of the things, like grounds not being available due to rain and players barred from travelling, were taken out of our hands." And yet, against teams from Guam (Rovers FC), Malaysia (Sabah FA) and Bangladesh, East Bengal start favourites in Group A from where only the winners will qualify to the finals....