Fever effect
Dhaka Mohammedan head coach Joshimuddin Joshi was an immensely worried man when he found out that five of his players were sick prior to their yesterday’s last-four clash against East Bengal. Their condition however, improved slightly as Mobarak Hossain Bhuiyan and Mohammad Ibrahim are almost certain to recover within a couple of days. Young striker Nabib Newaz Jibon was suffering from both stomach pain and fever. He joined yesterday’s training session but was separated from the troop and did some light training instead. Sohel Rana has eight stitches on his head while Jewel Rana’s condition is so severe that he has already left the squad.
Korean.....
When the Black and White camp was suffering from sickness, East Bengal, without any injury problems to contend with, flew in their best foreign recruit this year last Monday night in order to bolster their squad. Do Dong-hyun is a South Korean winger who joined the Kolkata outfit this season. In his first assignment with the club, the Korean forward scored 12 goals from 10 matches in the Kolkata Football League. Hosts Chittagong Abahani bore all the travel expenses of the player.
Peter v Rafique
After failing to score any of Mohammedan’s six goals against Solid FC, Nigerian forward Peter Akinyele single-handedly guided the Black and Whites in their crucial win against Kolkata Mohammedan with a brace. His two goals from three matches saw him rise to third position in the highest goalscorers’ list. He is not alone there. East Bengal winger Mohammed Rafique also shares the same spot after scoring one each against Chittagong Abahani and Karachi Electric. The duo will face off against each other in today’s second semi-final. Peter usually plays in the centre forward position and sometimes drifts to the left wing while Rafique prefers the right wing.
‘Ticket niye jao’
“Ticket niye jao”; the most heard dialogue at MA Aziz Stadium yesterday. The unusually late kick off time of the semi-finals did not stop the spectators from flocking to the stadium. The MA Aziz Stadium has a bigger capacity than the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. It was not fully packed yesterday but most of the upper stands were filled up by enthusiastic football lovers. Yesterday’s semi-final witnessed the most number of spectators in the tournament and although there was no official count, it is assumed that it exceeded 15,000.
