Enamul Haque netted twice for Bangladeshi giants -- that came up with two players from Ghana and five national players -- in either halves to seal their victory . Haque scored the first goal in the 28th minute following a blunder of NRT defender Nabin Neupane as he failed to clear an easy ball. [break]
Haque scored in one-on-one from box with goalie Surendra Shrestha utilizing a pass from Ibrahim that he seized from Neupane.
Bangladeshi national player Haque who had scored 18 goals in the Bangladeshi national league doubled the tally in the 68th minute through a spot kick as Sagar Thapa handled the ball in the danger zone in an attempt to clear a cross of Zahed Pervez.
NRT that came under pressure from the home team nearly conceded goal in the very fifth minute. Ghanaian Ibrahim´s strike from close range went few inches wide from the post. Five minute later goalie Surendra Shrestha of NRT made a brilliant display to prevent Ibrahim´s shot.
NRT which could not make a single remarkable move in the first half failed to utilize a corner in the 40th minute.
In the second half, NRT squandered three attractive scoring chances. Danish striker Sayan Mosavi´s powerful shot in the 54th minute from box in his solo effort deflected hitting goalie Biplav´s leg, the second choice national goalie of Bangladeshi squad. Similarly, Mosavi powerful strike once again from outside box was brilliantly denied by goalie Biplav in the 78th minute. Seven minutes later the goalie remained major obstacle for NRT as he prevented Roshan Lamichhane´s shot from outside box in a pass set by Mosavi that he got from Neupane.
However, Abahani continued with their tune in the second half as well. In contrast to the strong forward line up of NRT the defending line up made a poor performance in the entire match. NRT that has feared the hot atmosphere of Bangladesh failed to utilize favorable cloudy atmosphere for them. About a hundred of Nepali students gathered in the stadium had to return disappointed from there.
NRT coach Diken Suwal said that his side failed to utilize scoring opportunities twice. “The team conceded early goal due to defending error and it became the major loss for us.”
Abahani coach Amlesh Sen said, “Had the boys utilized all opportunities we could have scored more goals. However, the team played well and the victory means that our chance of qualifying in the final round has been strengthened.”
Earlier, in the inaugural match, two-time title holder Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan made an impressive start with a 5-0 rout over Hasus NTCPE of Chinese Taipei. Tetteh David and Amirov Ildar scored twice in either halves for Dordio while Arthem added another in the second half.
Hasus coach Chao Jung attributed hot weather for the heavy defeat. Speaking at the post match conference Jung said, “Our players could not play due to extreme hot weather. We could not repeat same performance as that of second half in the first half.”
Dordoi coach Dvoryankov said that being a professional team they would not blame the weather. “We played slowly as we travelled for about 26 hours to arrive Dhaka from our country,” Dvoryankov stated.
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