AFC Cup: ‘Heart with Chennaiyin, head with Abahani’

Two-time Indian Super League champions Chennaiyin FC are determined to display better performance against Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani on Wednesday compared to their AFC Cup home game.

The Indian outfit, who are on top of the group with seven points from three matches, registered a hard-fought and somewhat fortuitous victory against the six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions in Ahmedabad on April 30.

After arriving here on Sunday night, the Chennaiyin side held their first training session at the Abahani ground yesterday and they are aiming to maintain their lead in the table, boosted by the recent contract extension of their English coach John Gregory.

Even though the 65-year-old coach did not entertain the local media, the team’s assistant coach Syed Sabir Pasha was eager to talk his team’s target and reminisce memories from two decades ago. The former India international knows the Bangladesh environment all too well as he spent two seasons with the Sky Blues outfit.

“We are prepared for the match. Abahani are a very good team and we respect them. We have seen their match against Minerva Punjab. We also played against them in Ahmedabad which was not an easy one for us. They have some good foreigners who can cause damage anytime, so we have to be careful and have to be ready from the beginning,” said Pasha, who played for Abahani in 1999 and 2000.

Pasha felt the performance of his side in their home fixture was not up to mark, and hence they are committed to perform better here.

“The home match in Ahmedabad was a good one because there was good fight. Abahani started very well and were better than us in the first 15 minutes. I think we were not so good on that day and could have done better which we will try to do in the next match. We hope we will be much better than the Ahmedabad match,” said Pasha, who scored 11 goals for Abahani in the 1999 season before scoring another six or seven goals in the 2000 season. 

Asked how he felt after coming back to the premise where he once used to play, Pasha said, “It is like coming home. I was here for two years. It is a great memory for me; [I spent] great moments with a group of Bangladeshi players, who were all national team players and it was a great occasion for me.”

The former Abahani winger chatted with former Bangladesh internationals Iqbal Hossain and Nazrul Islam and looked for his former teammates Jakir Hossain, Arman Mia and others.

“It is always difficult to not support a team you played for, scored for and had good and bad times with. But Chennai is my birth place, a place where I grew up and played football. I have been involved with Chennaiyin FC. So my heart is with Chennaiyin FC and head is with Abahani,” said Pasha, who represented India from 1993 to 2001.