Sheikh Jamal celebration on hold for final

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club players had surprise guests after their historic win over East Bengal in the 118th IFA Shield semifinal on Tuesday as Mumbai actresses Munmun Sen and her daughter actress Riya Sen turned up at the dressing room and congratulated the players on their superb performance. The actresses spent some time talking to the players and handed over the incentive bonus of 10,000 dollars, which was announced by one of the club directors on the previous day, informed team manager Abdul Gaffar over phone yesterday.
There was mild celebration after the victory at the dressing room among the players, as they felt celebration will be more appropriate once they win the historic title, which was their aim to begin with.
And if they do become the first Bangladeshi team to lift the IFA Shield title, there will be no shortage of celebration and rewards for the Dhanmondi outfit as the club management has already announced an incentive bonus of 25,000 dollars if they win the final.
“We did not throw any party to celebrate the triumph on Tuesday night. Today (Wednesday) the players had a rest day, except for those who did not take part in the match and the players for shopping with the club president Manjur Kader,” said Gaffar.
Despite notching the unique feat of beating Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, Sheikh Jamal players had their feet firmly on the ground, but at the same time are confident about beating Kolkata Mohammedan in the final on Saturday.   
The players will be back to business today and they will have only two sessions of practice in the two days prior to the final, in a bid to give them maximum rest to keep them hundred percent fit. Coach Joseph Afusi is likely to work only on match situations and rectify the mistakes that the players made in the previous matches, informed Gaffar.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata dailies were full of praise of Sheikh Jamal players, especially the three foreign strikers while at the same time lambasted the lethargic performance of the East Bengal players and the tactics of coach Armando Colaco.
'East Bengal devastated by cyclone' headlined one Bengali daily while another went 'The Red and Gold torch doused by Dhanmodi storm'.  One of the news reports opined that Sheikh Jamal were worthy of the jersey they wore, which was designed after the Argentina stripes.