Sufil regaining his lost touch?

Mahbubur Rahman Sufil, Mannaf Rabbi and Nasir Uddin Chowdhury – three familiar names of Bangladesh football in the last decade but increasingly oblivious over the last few years -- have produced a rare instance in the Bangladesh Premier League today, scoring all four goals in a 2-2 draw between Brothers Union and Chittagong Abahani.

It is a rare instance for a four-goal affair as majority of goals in the top tier of Bangladesh's professional football are scored by foreigners – earlier used to be by the African forwards and now increasingly more by forwards from South America and central Asia.  

It was a clash between the two bottom sides of the league at the Shaheed Bir Shreshtho Ft Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj and it left neither in a better position as the spoils were shared. Not before some drama though as Sufil got Brothers to a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the second half, only to see Rabbi and the 43-year-old Nasir score twice for Chittagong Abahani in the 80th and 82nd minutes to end the game on a level pegging.

Sufil, who stormed into the national football scene like a comet with his pace and goalscoring ability in 2018 following a successful two-year stint at Arambagh KS, served the national team for three years and scored five times in 29 appearances for the men in red and green. However, as it often happens in Bangladesh football, promising young forwards are poached by big clubs which eventually bring about their downfall, Sufil's high-profile move to Bashundhara Kings in 2018 was the start of a steady decline for the speedy forward.

Having mostly warmed the benches of Kings for four seasons, with only a single goal to his name in 52 bit-part appearances, Sufil was shown the door and roped in by Mohammedan in 2022, but he did not have a great time in the Black and Whites dugout either, never managing to score there.

Mahbubur Rahman Sufil scoring a goal against Bhutan in 2018. File Photo: Firoz Ahmed

But a move last year to Brothers Union, where there are only three foreigners this season and all the forwards are local, Sufil seems to have finally found the freedom to exercise his goalscoring skills. Both his goals in today's game came following galloping runs from the midfield and latching on to through-balls from Mostafa Kaharba.

The two goals took his tally for the season to three goals – already three times as many as his goals for Bashundhara Kings and Mohammedan combined, and if Sufil could continue this goalscoring touch, a recall to the national team might not be out of the equation.

Meanwhile, there were two more games on the day, with Mohammedan edging past Police FC 3-2 in Mymensingh to keep hold of the second position with 10 points from four games, two behind league leaders Bashundhara Kings.

Jafar Iqbal, Muzaffarov and Souleymane Diabate scored for the Black and Whites while Mateo Palacios and Shahed Hossain scored for Police.

Six-time professional league champions Abahani remained in third position with seven points following a 3-1 win over Sheikh Russel KC in Gopalganj, with Cornelius Stewart scoring twice and Jonathan Fernandez scoring the other for the Sky Blues. National team striker Sumon Reza scored the only goal for Sheikh Russel, who remained in seventh position with four points.