Independence Cup from today

The hastily arranged Independence Cup football tournament has been sandwiched between two legs of the Bangladesh League, which will likely lead to table-topping teams of the league to use the tournament more as practice and testing ground to gauge new recruits and finalise an ideal playing eleven for the second leg.
The tournament, starting today at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, had been inserted into the BFF calendar after the deferment of the second leg of the Bangladesh League
After the completion of the first leg of the professional football league, Muktijoddha Sangsad lead the table with 28 points followed by Abahani's 26 and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club's 26.
“For the tight schedule of the Independence Cup, the clubs and players will suffer more before the start of the second leg of the Bangladesh League, and certainly we are more focused on the league rather than the tournament,” said Muktijoddha Sangsad coach Maruful Haque yesterday.
However, he set his target to reach the quarterfinals of the Independence Cup and then would think match by match.
“The tournament will help us finalise a combination after the inclusion of new foreign players as we are looking forward to clinching the Bangladesh League,” said Sheikh Jamal's Sri Lankan coach Packeer Ali.
“However, we will certainly go for the tournament title as the players have had enough time -- one month -- to recover from their tiredness,” said Ali.
Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu expressed similar views.
“A team like Abahani that always plays for the title will always be under pressure to get in the proper mindset for such a tournament at such short notice. While we obviously will go there to bring the season's second title home, for us the league is more important than the tournament,” said Rupu.
The scenario, though, is totally different for teams that are not in the league race; they are expected to take the Independence Cup seriously in a bid to add some silverware to their trophy cabinets.
Mid-table teams like Mohammedan, Brothers Union, Arambagh and Rahmatganj, are not as concerned as the table-toppers since they have a slim chance of climbing up the table.
“It would have been better had the Independence Cup started two weeks before as all teams are out of competitive match play for one month. However, we take the tournament seriously and the target is to play the final,” said Mohammedan coach Shafiqul Islam Manik.
Sheikh Jamal take on Farashganj SC while Abahani face Chittagong Mohammedan in the opening day's matches.