Abahani on brink of appointing coach Titu for AFC Cup

Bangladesh Premier League champion Abahani Limited are all set to appoint former national team head coach Saiful Bari Titu for the AFC Cup 2018, scheduled to be held approximately a month later. The Sky Blues are likely to begin their training camp, as well as the preparation for Asia's second tier club tournament Monday and Titu is expected to take charge of the club as coach from the first day. Abahani had been without a head coach for more than a couple of months since Serbia-born Croatian coach Drago Mamic left the club suddenly with nine matches left in the premier league. The Dhanmondi giant however, went on to retain the title winning all nine matches, thanks to manager Satyajit Das Rupu, who also has AFC B license, and goalkeeping coach Atiqur Rahman. The champion couldn't carry their professional league performance to the Independence Cup where they exited in the quarter-final following a shocking defeat against Arambagh Krira Sangha. The club had been looking for a coach since then. Rupu explained the reason behind their decision to choose Titu. "The team are currently in a stable situation so we didn't want to experiment with a new or foreign coach who is not familiar with our players. Titu is an experienced coach and he knows the ins-and-outs of the players. I hope he will do well," said Rupu. Titu has experience of coaching different premier league clubs like Lt. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Arambagh, Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited and Chittagong Abahani Limited, where he last worked as coach. Titu was also the head coach of Bangladesh for three short periods in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He said, "It's an honour for me to get adjudged as Abahani head coach. Now my main focus will be to prepare the team for the AFC Cup." Meanwhile, Abahani have submitted their final squad for the AFC Cup on the deadline day Tuesday without making any change among the local players from the premier league squad. But they bolstered the squad by including Japanese attacking midfielder Seiya Kojima in the Asian player’s quota. The club will begin their AFC Cup Group E campaign against Maldives champion New Radiant Sporting Club on March 7.