PHOTO: BFF

Sports Reporter

Bashundhara Kings bucked the trend of shock results in the TVS Federation Cup, but only just, with a 4-1 win in tiebreakers against Muktijoddha Sangsad KC in the fourth quarterfinal at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The beaten finalists of last year had taken a third-minute lead through Jalal Kdouh, and despite dominating the match, had to go through to penalties following Mahedi Hasan’s equaliser for Muktijoddha on 76 minutes.

With the 30 minutes of extra time not producing a goal, it was up to Bashundhara Kings’ goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico to repeat his heroics from last year. The national team goalkeeper had produced similar penalty-saving performances in the Kings’ Independence Cup triumph last season, and followed it up with two saves out of four shots as the title-contenders eased to 4-1 win on penalties.

The new powerhouse of domestic football will take on newcomers Bangladesh Police in the second semifinal on January 3 following the first semifinal between Mohammedan and Rahmatganj on the previous day.

Police overwhelm Saif

Earlier, newcomers Bangladesh Police overwhelmed big-spenders Saif Sporting Club in the third quarterfinal with a 3-1 win to extend the spree of shock results in the season’s curtain-raising tournament.

MS Bablu’s side-volley gave Police a 31st-minute lead after Police goalkeeper Arifuzzaman Himel produced a brilliant save from Jamal Bhuiyan’s free-kick to keep the favourites at bay.

Sydney Rivera doubled Police’s lead in the first minute of stoppage time with a powerful shot from inside the box before the American forward made it 3-0 with a clever flick on a pass from Luka Rotkovic seven minutes after restart.

Murolimzhon Akhmedov reduced the margin with a superb curling free-kick three minutes later as Saif started creating chances. However, Jahongir Ergashev saw his attempt come off the crossbar, with the rebound headed over by Rahimuddin on 68 minutes before Denier Cordoba blasted the ball over the bar eight minutes later as Saif’s effort to stage a fightback amounted to nothing.

This was a big win for a team who started their campaign with a 4-0 chastening against defending champions Abahani and third surprising result in three quarterfinals after Rahmatganj had knocked out Abahani while Mohammedan saw off Chattogram Abahani in the first two quarterfinals.

Police coach Nicolas Vitorovic was, however, unwilling to call the result an upset.

“My players played the way I wanted them to. They showed character to get one more victory. I always felt we could win. I tried to instil a winning mentality among the players,” the Cypriot coach said at the post-match press conference.

Saif SC coach Mohammad Nizam was frustrated at the lacklustre approach from his players, especially the local ones.

“There needs to be bigtime change with the mindset and attitude of the players,” the Maldivian coach said.

“There is lot of work to be done with the team. We gave away three easy goals. The body language and attitude of the players was not right. They did not take the opposition seriously enough,” Nizam added.