Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra will leave for Sri Lanka today to take part in the final round of the AFC President’s Cup, which begins in Colombo from September 20.
Russell became the first club from Bangladesh to qualify for the final round of the Cup by finishing as Group A champions in the first round held in May in Colombo.In their first game, they were held to a goalless draw by the last edition’s champions, Khan Research Laboratory of Pakistan. But they came back strongly to top the group after managing two successive wins over Sri Lanka Air Force and Ugyen Academy of Bhutan.
So, with the sweet memory of the first-round, the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League champions will now look to go one step further by defeating Erchim FC of Mongolia on September 20 and Rimyongsu Club of North Korea on September 24 in their Group B games and the win will also propel them to the President’s Cup final.
Both the matches will be played at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.
This time Russell have formed a strong team with top players from some other clubs like Mohammedan forward Zahid Hasan Ameli, defender Nahidul Islam and goalkeeper Mamun Khan, Abahani’s left-back Wali Faisal and midfielder Shahedul Alam.
Russell started their training camp ahead of the AFC President’s Cup on August 20 but they were unable to start it in full swing due to the refusal of Mohammedan to release their players.
But with the assistance of the Bangladesh Football Federation, Russell will be getting the Mohammedan trio, who will travel with them to Colombo today.
Russell coach Zakaria Babu was eager to make an impact and expressed his desire to qualify for the final of the tournament, which will also be the last.
‘We will play there not only for Russell but also for the country. I hope, if my boys can follow my instructions that I gave them in the training session, we will play in the final,’
He also admitted that the club faced some obstacles as the other top clubs had refused to release their players. But still he had total faith in his charges.
‘We faced some problems since our team is made up of players from various clubs. But I think we will gel as a team and the players that we have are capable of overcoming those obstacles.’
The coach also had a look at both the teams’ [Erchim FC of Mongolia and Rimyongsu Club of North Korea] videos to find out their strengths and weaknesses.
‘I have watched videos of both the clubs’ games. The club from North Korea seems a little stronger than us, while the club from Mongolia is similar to us,’ said Babu.
This is for the first time, national team forward Mithun Chowdhury is going to lead Sheikh Russell after their regular captain and goalkeeper Biplob Bhattacharjee left the club after the end of the Bangladesh Premier League.
‘We will play for Bangladesh not Sheikh Russell. No other Bangladeshi team have ever qualified for the final round. Our hard work made it possible. And we can do it in the final round too,’ said an optimistic Mithun.
-With New Age input
