Football's triumphant return

It is too early to say if country's football has got its soul back. But after an eventful week that culminated in a grand final between two soccer giants on Monday night, signs are evident that the soul-searching effort has started with all the subjects so important in bringing passion back to this great game making a spontaneous presence at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
A deafening roar from the stands just to confirm an attack has just taken place, passion running high as the high-voltage drama enters into a tiebreaker after 120 minutes of absorbing football were all there.
In the end it produced a winner. And it was Mohammedan this time over their magnificent rivals Abahani. But it was football in the country that made a victorious return.
Three substitute Mohammedan booters played the pivotal role in the final act when they showed no nerves to convert their spot kicks in a 3-2 victory in the shootout.
The regulation 90 minutes ended 1-1 with Robin cancelling Abahani's lead given by Emily and both the archrivals failed to change that in extra 30 minutes as the season's curtain raiser entered the nerve wrecking shootout before a 25,000-strong comeback crowd at the Big Bowl.
It was evident after the first two shots that Abahani were under pressure as their tournament top scorer Emily's effort from the spot was saved by rival goalkeeper and national number one Aminul.
After Nigerian substitute Dami Emmanuelle put the black and whites ahead, Mamun put his chance over the bar but Mohammedan lost the initiative when veteran Rajani followed the same route.
Waly Faisal and Pranotosh scored to keep Abahani in the game but so did Maruf and Komol for Mohammedan. The show was over when Abahani's regular penalty taker and captain Nazrul, surprisingly taking the last shot, hit the sidebar to spark celebration in the Mohammedan line behind him as well as the northwest gallery.
Mohammedan may have enriched their showcase with the record ninth Federation Cup trophy -- two more than Abahani -- but in the end, everyone was happy to see return of big crowd to the most popular game in the country.
The scene might have been easily dwarfed by the crowd of 70s, 80s and the 90s, but after a long drought, it was sight for sore eyes. It just proved that passion for football has not died and if there is quality product, people will not look elsewhere for entertainment like the recent past, when football-less-ness virtually killed the fan.
The two unbeaten teams of the meet began cautiously, trying to weight each others' strength during a rather lacklustre first half.
Abahani paid heavily for fielding Joy, the holding midfielder who was nursing a groin injury and had to be replaced by Pranotosh after 13 minutes. A few more injuries during the match put more pressure on sky-blues coach Amalesh Sen, who perhaps waited too long to bring other substitutes.
Abahani, who won their last Federation Cup back in 2000, started with a three-man central defence to accommodate Nazrul, who returned after a two-match suspension while Mamun was chosen ahead of Ujjal and Zahed Parvez at the right of the midfield.
Still, the first ten minutes belonged to Maruful Haque's men who surprised by picking up Arman Aziz, who had 11 stitches on his right foot, as captain instead of injured Jewel Rana.
The only real chance before the break, though, fell to Abahani when Abul's curling freekick from the left caught Aminul wrong-footed. The ball bounced off the crossbar and hit Emily on the head before harmlessly going over.
In a pulsating second half, Nazrul's gaffe almost cost Abahani dear when he accounted the ball to Bukola inside the box three minutes after resumption. But the Nigerian, top scorer of the tournament with eight goals, saw his placing shot on one on one cleared by Abahani keeper Biplab's legwork.
Having scored in all his previous four matches, everyone expected him to convert the sitter but Abahani's quick attack down the right flank separated the two sides in the 54th minute.
Fullback Siraji sent the MVP of the tournament Ibrahim racing past a slow reacting Mohammedan centre-back Saikat and the Ghanaian forward cut a low through across the goal for a rushing Emily who slid the ball home for his fifth goal.
Abahani had two great chances to seal the match in the next ten minutes but Ibrahim's hard work went down the drains. Mamun lost control inside the box while Emily fired just over from close as Mohammedan hit back with what seemed to be a harmless long ball from the middle in the 71st minute.
The ball fell to Sujan but the Abahani central defender, looking for an offside flag to go up, hesitated a moment to make a clearance inside the box, allowing Robin to pounce home for his fifth goal in the competition. It also earned the Mohammedan striker the man of the final award.
It was Sujan's last action as he had to leave the ground on a stretcher and Abahani, who were busy defending the rival attacks in the rest of the period, came close to snatch a winner on the stroke of 90 minutes through Mamun whose 35-yard left-footer forced a superb diving save by Aminul.
The indefatigable Ibrahim got a great opportunity to score his first goal of the tournament but the Ghanaian's first-time shot on Siraji's low cross missed Aminul's post in the 13th minute of extra time, leading the final to be decided on penalties.
Yellow cards: Bukola, Maruf (Mohammedan) and Yussif, Mamun, Emily, Ibrahim (Abahani)
TEAMS
MOHAMMEDAN: Aminul; Hassan Al Mamun, Rajani, Saikat; Nasir, Arman Aziz, Sharif (Emmanuelle, 65th), Hazem (70th), Kamal; Bukola and Robin (Komol, 103rd).
ABAHANI: Biplab; Yussif, Nazrul, Sujan (Pradeep, 74th); Siraji, Joy (Pranotosh, 13th), Abul (Zahed, 99th), Mamun, Waly; Ibrahim and Emily.
Referee: Azad Rahman.