Maruful, Jamal eager to beat Mohun Bagan

Hosts Chattogram Abahani have almost ensured their qualification for the semifinals of the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup following wins in first two matches and only a heavy defeat against Mohun Bagan today might see them miss out on last four.

Coach Maruful Haque sounded confident about his team’s semifinal berth and gave a hint that he might rest a few players from the starting eleven of the previous matches, with the semifinals scheduled only three days later.

“There are areas we can improve. These players are playing at this club for the first time and most of the local players joined the camp only a couple of days before the tournament. But they are improving,” said the coach, who guided the now-troubled Arambagh KS last two seasons.

“My playing eleven will depend on the result of TC Sports versus Young Elephants match. I may rest a few players depending on that game. There is also the case of testing the bench players,” said Maruful.

The veteran coach’s only international success came in the 2014 King’s Cup in Bhutan when he guided Sheikh Jamal to the title, beating Pune FC of India in the final.

Sheikh Jamal, a force in South Asian football at that time, beat Mohun Bagan 5-3 in a group stage match of that tournament. Mohun Bagan started the current tournament on a losing note before bouncing back against defending champions TC Sports on Wednesday.

Maruful made comparison to the current Mohun Bagan side and the one from 2014.

“I think the team at that time had better fitness than this one. Furthermore, that team had players like Sony Norde and a few good Asian players,” said the veteran coach, whose last domestic success was with Arambagh Club in Federation Cup in 2018.

Captain Jamal Bhuiyan, who is in spectacular form recently with both club and country, has scooped man-of-the-match awards in both games for Chattogram Abahani. The 29-year-old midfielder, who guided the national team to a 1-1 draw against India in Kolkata recently, has scores to settle in this tournament.

“I want to be group champions and I want the Indian teams out of the tournament which will be a good motivation. Everybody is motivated for the next game,” said Jamal, who was sent off in the final of King’s Cup in 2014.

Since Jamal Bhuiyan’s debut, Bangladesh have not lost against India. All three meetings ended in draws, with India scoring last-ditch equalisers on all three occasions.

While India are way ahead in ranking and enjoy a much greater success against Bangladesh, Jamal says what hurts him is the Indian players looking down upon their Bangladesh counterparts.

“We have a history against India. India always felt on top of Bangladesh, so tomorrow is a great chance to show that India are not on top of Bangladesh. we can prove them wrong that Bangladesh players can also play football,” Jamal said.