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MSC rue missed chances

Sports Reporter
Local hopes ebbed a little when Dhaka Mo-hammedan Spor-ting Club allowed Thal champtons Bangkok Bank Club to wrest a vital point from them in the opening tie of the 10th Asian Club Cup football championship which kicked off at the Dhaka Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Mohammedan Sporting who started with a bang, making several menacing sorties into the Thal territory within minutes of the kick-off. and enjoyed a better share of the exchanges for much of the proceedings. eventually ran out of steam and saw their slender lead being neutralized by the Bangkok bankers who had to toil extra hard on a heavy, slushy outfield several parts of which had puddles caused by the heavy showers earlier in the afternoon.
The Group B encounter, which started after a minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to the memory of AFC Vice President Jamil Jawad al-Jishl who died in Bahrain yesterday, was crucial for both teams who find themselves clustered with favourites Esteghlal Club of Iran and the strong April 25 Chib of North Korea tn the four-team group. The other group has only three teams, including reigning champions Liaoning provincial side of China, following the late withdrawal of Jordanian champions Al-Ramatha from the tournament.
Despite the heavy playing conditions, the young and energetic Mohammedan mid-fielders and forwards displayed tremendous speed and threat ened to run all over the slower, more tentative Thais in the early minutes of play. In a series of fine attacking moves the biack-and-whites closed in on the Bangkok Bank goalmouth only to see their efforts go to waste due to poor finishing up front
Striker Imtiaz Ahmed Naquib. on whose young shoul ders rested most of the Mohammedan as wel| as local hopes, failed to rise to the occasion and his off-colour performance forced freshly-arrived Mohammedans' Iranian coach Nasser Hegazi to call him off tn favour of substitute Zakir tn the early part of the, second half.
Mohammedans always looked likely to score, and they did so in the 20th minute of play when Chouse pushed the ball into the net from a goalmouth melee after right-
winger Mamoon Joarder had failed to do Justice to a fine Imtiaz Sultan Johnny throw-in from the right (1-0),
Prior to this success, of course. Mohammedan* should have scored at least on two occasions bui each time Naquib failed to do the needful after his teammates had set him clear well Inside the Thal dan ger zone.
Naquib can hardly offer any excuses for not placing the ball into the Thai net with only goalie Somkiat at his mercy after he had beaten an at tempted off-side trap as star , midfielder Shabblr laid on a brilliant through ball. Instead of aiming for the first bar with his left foot Naquib shot wide of the far post with his right. Such chances don't come everyday
In the 29th minute it was Chouse'S turn to play the villain and his attempted over-ambitious side-vol ley from a hand-shaking distance upon yet another beautiful Shabblr pass had the partisan crowd pulling at their hair tn disgust.
It was a slightly different scenario tn the second session with the Thais, who liave as many as seven players In their ranks who did duty In the recent under-23 Olympic qualifiers. managing to get a better grip on the proceedings. Outside-left Chamnan almost put the Thais level within two minutes of the resumption from a melee in front of the Mohammedan goal.
Two minutes later it was Mamoon Joarder's turn to miss a good opportunity.
The Thais took advantage of a tiring Mohammedan side to equalise in the 60th minute when Aplrak gave goalie Syed Hassan Kanon hardly a clue after Chamnan had sent in a
teasing fob from the right (1-1).
The goal looked Inevitable because a tired Mohammedan right full back Barun Bikash Dewan had left yawning gap* on two previous occasion only minutes earlier Yet. quite surprisingly. Hegazi didn't recall Barun for the more* experl enced Abul
There were a few more wasted opportunities for both sides later tn the game, especially for the Thals who saw a diving Kanon save the day for Mohammedans tn the dying seconds of the match, grabbing the bail from Phltaya * feet.
Earlier. Foreign Minister ASM Mustaftzur Rahman, who is also chairman of the tournament organising committee, Inaugurated the seven-team. 1 1 -day meet as chief guest He was Introduced to the players and officials of the participating teams. Also present at the opening ceremony were State Ministers for Sports and Finance. Sadeq Hossain Khoka and Md Mujibur Rahman re spectlvely. Asian Football Confederation Secretary Peter Velappan and chief of the Bangladesh Football Federation Slddlqur Rahman.
The Mohammedans will play their next match against April 25 while the Bangkok Bank Club will take on Esteghlal of Iran on July 21.
TEAMS
MOHAMMEDAN SC: Kanon. Barun. Johny. Kaiser. Jewel Rana, Shabblr, Tltu. Ayaz. Roxy. Mamun. Nakulb. Zakir and Ghaus.
BANGKOK BANK SC: Somkiat. Siripong. Nanta Preecha. Praphan. Danchal. Cheoichai. Anan. Aplrak. Adisom. Phltaya and Chamnan.
Referee: Shyam Shrestha (Nepal)