The eagerly-anticipated Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup is all set to roll on the field today with the inaugural match between former Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani Limited and Pakistan Premier League champions Karachi Electric FC.
The opener will kick off at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong at 4:30pm while hosts Chittagong Abahani will take on Kolkata giants Kingfisher East Bengal FC in the day’s second match at 7:30pm at the same venue.
Channel 9 will telecast both the matches live.
This is the first time the port city of Chittagong will be hosting an international football tournament and the organisers have pledged to hold the event on a regular basis.
Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin will inaugurate the tournament as the chief guest.
Four-time professional league champions Abahani, who are by far the most successful club in Bangladesh, have experienced mixed fortunes in recent times and have failed to lift the top-flight title in the last four seasons.
Karachi Electric, in contrast, are on a good run of form lately having claimed their first ever league title in the 2014-15 season. They are the first ever Pakistani club to qualify for the prestigious AFC Cup.
Abahani will be depending on their prolific Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba to deliver the goods. Besides recruiting Topu Barman and Waly Faisal from Sheikh Russel, the Sky Blues have also roped in Chester Akon and Samson Illiasu from Brothers Union and Team BJMC respectively in order to land the inaugural title.
Abahani’s veteran coach Amalesh Sen yesterday said, “We began our preparation not so long ago. The fitness level is satisfactory but we have to beat every opponent if we want to become champions. The group is tough but we are determined to make it to the semi-finals. This is our primary goal.”
As far as the home side is concerned, experienced coach Shafiqul Islam Manik is bracing himself for his debut tournament with Chittagong Abahani.
And the port city outfit can certainly dream of winning the title, as they have a different and a comparatively better squad than the one in the domestic league.
With national stars like Zahid Hasan Ameli, Hemanta Vincent Biswas, Zahid Hossain and Mithun Chowdhury at their disposal, the hosts can rightly expect a good start against East Bengal today.
“The success of a team depends on three things; preparation, strategy and luck. Therefore, we might be lacking in preparation but I hope we will finish in the top two by balancing the three aforementioned aspects. It will not be an easy task as we are in the group of death. We have the squad and the capability to fight against the sub-continent clubs,” said Manik yesterday.
On paper, I-League outfit East Bengal are clear favourites for today’s encounter and their newly-appointed coach Bishwajit Bhattacharya expressed hope of exhibiting beautiful football.
“We try to make our supporters happy wherever we go and we want to do the same here as well. 14 players out of 32 are currently playing in the ISL (Indian Super League). But it is not an excuse,”
said Bishwajit yesterday before adding, “We don’t have enough information about the teams we will be playing in this tournament but we have to beat every opponent for success. We came here to play positive football.”
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