Abahani fall at first hurdle

Five-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani made a frustrating start to the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of TC Sports Club at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong yesterday.

Ibrahim Mahudhee Hussain scored the decisive goal in the 16th minute and Abahani now find themselves in a precarious situation as they will have to face strong opponents in the form of Kyrgyzstan's FC Alga and South Korea's Pocheon Citizen FC in their next two matches.

Although Abahani enjoyed the lion's share of possession throughout the game, they failed to breach the solid-backline of TC Sports in the absence of striker Sunday Chizoba and attacking midfielder Lee Tuck, key components of Abahani's Premier League triumph.

Sheikh Jamal's Emeka Darlington was drafted upfront but the Nigerian failed to find any support from the midfielders, who were finding it hard to take control of the ball in the face of a high-pressing system from TC Sports Club.

That pressing football led to the visitors' first goal as Hassan Niaz nicked the ball from defender Tapu Barman and delivered a nice low cross for Ibrahim, who flicked the ball home from the six-yard box to put TC Sports Club ahead.

Abahani then found some footing and controlled the rest of the game but the failed to pull a goal back, while TC Sports Club were a bit unlucky not to get two more goals from flowing counter-attacks.

Earlier, in the opening match of the tournament, Pocheon Citizen FC got off to a fine start with a convincing 2-0 win over FC Alga at the same venue.

Pocheon may be a third-tier side in South Korea, but the All Orange proved why they were better than Kyrgyzstan's first-tier club with their skill, movement and control over the ball.

FC Alga were heavily-favoured against the unknown Pocheon side, who are playing their first international tournament, but the five-time Kyrgyz Premier League champions were not up to the standards of the team from South Korea, a country that played the FIFA World Cup semifinals in 2002.

Pocheon took the lead against the run of play through a long-range strike from Jang Young IK in the 14th minute before JI Kyeong Deuk doubled the lead six minutes later from inside the box.

Pocheon also created three more chances after the break but Kim Chan Heui and Jang Young IK squandered the opportunities while FC Alga failed to break through the Pocheon's backline and were reduced to trying their luck from distance. However, the shots from Erzatttoktoaliev and Ildar Amirov went wide of the post.

“We are happy to show our ability in the match as we have come here with good preparation knowing that FC Alga may take the advantage of their physique,” said Pocheon coach Kim Jae Young adding that his charges were ahead of FC Alga in terms of technique.

“It was a very difficult match for us because the Korean team is better than us. They play in the World Cup and we play in the Asian Cup, but we will try to be better in our next matches,” said FC Alga coach Alexander.