& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Abahani's amazing transformation

Sports Reporter
Abahani will celebrate their sixth title with the trophy only after their game against Chittagong Abahani, on January 11, which they are quite confident about winning too. The Sky Blues beat titlerivals Sheikh Jamal DC on Friday night to capture the title with a game in hand, extending their record-haul to six titles in the professional league era.
That win also took their winning streak to nine matches, seeing the Dhanmondi giants wipe off a five-point deficit and forge a four-point lead. The nine-game winning streak also coincided with the departure of Drago Mamie, the Croatian coach who left the club in late October after his contract had run out.
The team's long-serving left-back Wali Faisal, who had to watch the latest victory from the gallery due to suspension, attributed the change in fortunes to the responsibility shared by each and every member of the team and right decisions taken by team management.
"The departure of the coach didn't really discourage us, instead it made us more motivated to take each other's responsibilities," Wali said the day after winning the title.
"The difference with other teams was that we did not have too many people giving too many advices in our club. We had our manager and club president encouraging us, and the players knew their jobs individually and collectively," said Wali, who has won five of the six professional league titles with Abahani since his debut for the club in 2003.
Abahani's winning streak started on November 18, with a 2-1 win over Farashganj, a relegation-threatened team that they had lost to in their second match of the league five months ago. That defeat against the perennial relegation-battlers
had shaken the side to the core, and slowly but surely, the club reorganised itself. In fact, after that defeat the Sky Blues had gone on a nine-match unbeaten streak before losing the first match of the second leg against Saif SC. The team's manager Satyajit Das Rupu explained the transformation.
"We have always had a very balanced side. I wouldn't say we were better in any particular department because it would take the credit away from others. But we did have a problem with scoring in the first leg. So we had to take a crucial decision of letting go of a proven forward Landing Darboe to bring in Sunday Chizoba, who is a proven goalscorer. That decision paid off as he scored 10 goals in 10 matches, which made our work a lot easier," Rupu said.
So far, Abahani have won six out of ten professional league titles, hence the experience of winning big has also helped them while teams like Chittagong Abahani, the early pace-setters, fell by the wayside in the time of reckoning. But with the league title in the bag, and the Independence Cup coming up, the Sky Blues will be up for a much bigger challenge in the form of the AFC Cup, where they finished bottom of the group last year.
This time they will have Indian league champions Aizawl FC, Maldivian champions New Radiant SC and another South Asian team to be decided through a play-off as their group opponents. It will be a tall ask to progress through the group stages, but Rupu believes they are better prepared this year than the last.
"We have qualified for the AFC Cup as the champions of Bangladesh, not as the third or fourth team. So we are there by merit and we have our plans and ideas about how we can be competitive in that competition," said Rupu.
Abahani will play their first match of the AFC Cup on March 6 at home against New Radiant SC, and they will start training soon after the Independence Cup is completed.