Foreigners reign in season opener
Last year's beaten finalists Chittagong Abahani made a winning start in the Walton Federation Cup, beating Rahmatganj MFS 3-0 in the opening group A fixture at the Bangabandhu National Stadium as the football season got underway after an eight-month gap.
The first game of the season vindicated the expectation that this year's domestic football will be dominated by the foreigners even more than before as all three goals for Chittagong Abahani came through their African recruits -- Gambian forward Momodou Bah and Nigerians Magalan Awala and Mufta Lawal. Local forward Rakibul Islam scored the only goal for the Old Dhaka outfit.
The win helped Chittagong Abahani take a step towards the quarter-finals as they need only a draw in their last Group A fixture against Arambagh KS on November 2 to secure a last-eight berth.
The port city side broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when Bah dinked the advancing Rahmatganj goalkeeper Titumir Chowdhury following a long ball from Kyrgyz defender Daniel Nil Armah.
The Old Dhaka outfit, however, hit back 12 minutes after the restart, with substitute right-winger Rakibul finding the back of the net after receiving a neat through-pass from Faisal Ahmed from the left.
Awala was unlucky not to restore Chittagong Abahani's lead in the 62nd minute when his powerful free-kick from 30 yards hit the woodwork.
However, the Nigerian made no mistake 10 minutes later when he received a cut-back from Bah, darted into the right corner of the box before placing the ball home past Titumir.
Defender Lawal then sealed Chattogram Abahani's victory, heading home a corner from Monayem Khan Raju four minutes later.
Defending champions Abahani will begin their campaign today with the match against Muktijoddha Sangshad before Saif Sporting Club take on Team BJMC in the day's second match.
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