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East Bengal slumped to their fourth straight defeat in the AFC Cup after a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of Al Qadsia in their away match in Kuwait City.
The Kolkata side kept their fancied rivals, who had played in the Asian Champions League thrice in the past, at bay for half an hour but after that conceded three goals in seven minutes and caved in at the Mohammed Al Hamad stadium on Tuesday night.
Al Qadsia scored through Soud Al Mejmed (30th minute), Abdulaziz Al Meshan (35th), Ahmad Ajab (37th) and Bader Al Motawaa (85th).
For East Bengal, who travelled to Kuwait City with talismanic striker Baichung Bhutia and captain Syed Rahim Nabi, pulled one back in the 59th minute through Mehtab Hossain.
The victory took Al Qadsia to the top of the four-team group with eight points, one more than Al Ittihad of Syria and Al Nejmeh of Lebanon.
Yet to open their account in Group D, East Bengal are out of semi-final contention and their remaining two matches -- against Al Ittihad in Aleppo on April 20 and against Al Nejmeh on April 27 in Kolkata -- have become inconsequential.
Two top teams from each of eight groups will qualify for the knock-out round of 16.