Reigning Bangladesh Premier League champions Sheikh Russell KC will leave for Colombo today to participate in the AFC President’s Cup with an eye on the second round.
Abahani Limited participated five times in the President’s Cup, which will be scrapped after this year, but they never could qualify for the final round.In 2010-11, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club skipped their first round matches, held in Pakistan, due to security reasons.
Russell are not in a good position at the moment in the domestic tournaments as the last season’s treble winners have already been dethroned both in the Federation Cup and Independence Cup.
They are also struggling in the ongoing league, languishing in fifth position with 16 points.
To salvage the season Russell sacked coach Maruful Haque and appointed Montenegrin Dragan Gjukanovic on May 19 though their fate remained unchanged.
The two matches Russell played under Gjukanovic they lost one and drew the other.
The Montenegrin coach, who was disappointed with his side’s performance in the first two matches, seemed to have regained his composure and gave a positive hope in the team’s official press conference on Saturday.
‘In the league, I had little time to change things. But now things are different and our target is to win the group,’ said Gjukanovic.
‘I believe in my local players. We must make use of the players that we have and we must have to succeed with them.’
Russell recruited Haitian midfielder Pascal Millien and Serbian holding midfielder Ivan Kurtusic to fulfil the foreign quota in the 20-member squad.
Russell will start their Group A campaign against Khan Research Laboratories of Pakistan on May 7 and will face Sri Lanka Air Force SC and Bhutan’s Ugyen Academy respectively on May 9 and 11.
-With New Age input
