Sk Russel leave for Colombo today

A 19-member Sheikh Russel KC squad will leave here for Colombo this morning to play in the final round of AFC President's Cup, which begins on September 20.
The treble-winners of 2012-13 season, who qualified for the final round of Asia's third-tier club competition as the first team from Bangladesh are targeting a final berth, according to team officials and captain during a press conference at the Bangladesh Football Federation house yesterday.  
“I believe if the players can follow the instructions I gave in the month-long training, we can play in the final,” said Jakaria Babu, the recently appointed coach of Sheikh Russel.
“We have had some obstacles (regarding bringing players from Mohammedan and Abahani) which have been resolved. The players that we have now are capable of overcoming any obstacles and playing in the final,” added Babu.
Sheikh Russel will play their first match of Group B against Erchim FC of Mongolia on September 20 before taking on Rimyongsu Club of North Korea September 24, both at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, where the qualifying matches were held too. The group champions will play against champions of Group A -- comprising Sri Lanka Air Force, FC HTTU of Turkmenistan and Manang Mashyangdi of Nepal -- in the final on September 26.
Skipper Mithun Chowdhury, who will be captaining a side at the senior level for the first time, believes the known conditions in Colombo will help them playing well in the competition.
“Since we have played there before and became champions in qualifying, I believe we can do it again. No other Bangladeshi club have ever qualified for the final round which gives us extra motivation to do well,” said the striker who scored four goals during the qualifying campaign in March.
Even though the team management does not have a whole lot of information about their opponents available, the coach believes the North Korean team could be a tricky one.
“I have watched videos of both clubs. The club from North Korea seems to be a bit better than us while the club from Mongolia is similar to us” said Babu.
Since emerging champions in the qualifying round, Sheikh Russel reinforced their squad by bringing in quite a few national players including striker Zahid Hasan Emily, goalkeeper Mamun Khan, defenders Wali Faisal, Nahidul Islam and winger Zahid Hossain. However, Zahid will be unavailable as he is currently with national team for the Asian Games in Korea.  The two eligible foreign players are striker Nkowcha Kingsley and defender Bojan Petric.