Abahani book Fed Cup semifinal berth

Brothers fail to keep early lead

Abahani Limited booked their semifinal berth of the Walton Federation Cup Football Tournament when they came from a goal down to beat Brothers Union by 2-1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the capital yesterday.  
Brothers Union led the first half through Augustin Walson and Abahani made come back with two late goals, Jewel Rana leveled the arrear and Sunday scored the winning goal.
The win saw them to set up a semifinal meeting with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra on June 24, while Brothers eliminated from the quarterfinal phase despite demonstrating very impressive performance.
In the lively encounter right from the kick off both side made the game an entertaining one with attack and counter attacks. Abahani Limited could have taken the lead in the very second minute while everything was going on right direction with a quick move down the left side.
But a good header on  Lee Tuck’s pin-pointed free-kick from the inside the area was brilliantly saved by Brothers’ goalkeeper Uttam Barua.
Abahani, on their way to book the quarterfinal berth struggled much with defeat against Arambagh, looked to be more organized side on the day and again went closer twice to open the space on ninth and 16th minute.
It was very easy chance for Abahani on ninth minute but Ziban, Sunday and Lee Tuck, none of the forwards could push the ball from point blank distance when Faisal Mahmud delivered the ball from left side and on 16th minute Lee Tuck disappointed failing to send the ball into net having the Brothers keeper alone.
Brothers, under their new coach Bal Gopal Maharjan from Nepal played with a bit counter attack strategy as they made quick and strong response to Abahani while they also went closer to take lead but Augustin Walson shot the ball outside the far post with his three times attempts from the box on 23rd.
Augustin Walson finally broke the deadlock of the match when Nkowcha Kingsley nicely received a ball on his chest before to fabricating the way for Haitian on 35th (1-0).
Trailing by 0-1 the Sky Blue came more into the game after the interval but took time to equalize the margin and to escape with a late score.  
Jewel Rana came to initiate the scoring for Abahani when Lee Tuck hold down his corner kick inside the danger area and Jewel fired home a left footer into the far post when he was left free to receive the ball after a gentle touch of Ziban head on 69th minute (1-1).)       
After the equalizer the match came more excited, as both sides became more hostile to take the match at their favour but a drizzling made the ground a slippery to control the ball was a bit difficult.
However, Abahani was in better in possession and slammed the match winner on 81st minute. Lee Tuck sent another superb floating cross from the left side with Sunday nodding home from a close range (2-1).

Abahani book Fed Cup semifinal berth

Brothers fail to keep early lead

Abahani Limited booked their semifinal berth of the Walton Federation Cup Football Tournament when they came from a goal down to beat Brothers Union by 2-1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the capital yesterday. Brothers Union led the first half through Augustin Walson and Abahani made come back with two late goals, Jewel Rana leveled the arrear and Sunday scored the winning goal. The win saw them to set up a semifinal meeting with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra on June 24, while Brothers eliminated from the quarterfinal phase despite demonstrating very impressive performance. In the lively encounter right from the kick off both side made the game an entertaining one with attack and counter attacks. Abahani Limited could have taken the lead in the very second minute while everything was going on right direction with a quick move down the left side. But a good header on Lee Tucks pin-pointed free-kick from the inside the area was brilliantly saved by Brothers goalkeeper Uttam Barua. Abahani, on their way to book the quarterfinal berth struggled much with defeat against Arambagh, looked to be more organized side on the day and again went closer twice to open the space on ninth and 16th minute. It was very easy chance for Abahani on ninth minute but Ziban, Sunday and Lee Tuck, none of the forwards could push the ball from point blank distance when Faisal Mahmud delivered the ball from left side and on 16th minute Lee Tuck disappointed failing to send the ball into net having the Brothers keeper alone. Brothers, under their new coach Bal Gopal Maharjan from Nepal played with a bit counter attack strategy as they made quick and strong response to Abahani while they also went closer to take lead but Augustin Walson shot the ball outside the far post with his three times attempts from the box on 23rd. Augustin Walson finally broke the deadlock of the match when Nkowcha Kingsley nicely received a ball on his chest before to fabricating the way for Haitian on 35th (1-0). Trailing by 0-1 the Sky Blue came more into the game after the interval but took time to equalize the margin and to escape with a late score. Jewel Rana came to initiate the scoring for Abahani when Lee Tuck hold down his corner kick inside the danger area and Jewel fired home a left footer into the far post when he was left free to receive the ball after a gentle touch of Ziban head on 69th minute (1-1).) After the equalizer the match came more excited, as both sides became more hostile to take the match at their favour but a drizzling made the ground a slippery to control the ball was a bit difficult. However, Abahani was in better in possession and slammed the match winner on 81st minute. Lee Tuck sent another superb floating cross from the left side with Sunday nodding home from a close range (2-1).