Abahani confirm last 8

The quarterfinal line-up of the Walton Federation Cup was completed yesterday as defending champions Abahani defeated Muktijoddha Sangsad 1-0 to emerge Group A champions at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Winger Rubel Mia separated the sides on the half-hour mark with a clever strike to power the Sky Blues past Muktijoddha Sagnsad with four points from two outings. The Muktis, who finished with three points, also went through to the last eight.

The quarterfinal line-up pits Sheikh Jamal against Mohammedan on Wednesday, Chittagong Abahani against Sheikh Russel KC on Thursday, Rahmatganj MFS against Muktijoddha Sangsad on Friday and Abahani against Brothers Union on Saturday.

After being held to a 1-1 draw by newcomers Saif SC in the tournament opener, Abahani had a break due to their AFC Cup commitments. Having suffered defeat against Maziya S&RC in that fixture, Abahani were under pressure to perform, especially due to the fact that Muktijoddha Sangsad had already confirmed their quarterfinal berth by beating Saif SC.

However, Drago Mamic's side put up a commanding show and notched a comfortable 1-0 victory in the end.

Mamic opted to strengthen his defence by drafting in five defenders including Samad Yusssif in the starting eleven while keeping Nabib Newaj Jibon and Landing Darboe upfront. The strategy worked well to expose the Muktijoddha Sangsad defence time and again.

Abahani created a nice opportunity in the 18th minute when Sohel Rana ran down the left flank to cut the ball back to Jibon, who saw his low drive from inside the box brilliantly parried away by goalkeeper Uttam Kumar before Abahani broke the deadlock in the 30th minute.

Rubel was presented with a lob inside the box and the diminutive midfielder made no mistake as he rounded off three defenders and beat the goalkeeper.

Abahani could have doubled the margin during the 45th minute when Rubel whipped in a low cross from the right for Jibon, who however tried to nod it in from handshaking distance where a simple tap-in would have made the difference.

Abahani kept pressing for a second goal after restart and created a few good chances. Sohel missed an open net five minutes into the second half while Landing saw his curling effort cleared off the goal-line by defender Saikat Bhoumik.

In the dying moments, substitute Emeka Darlington frustrated the Sky Blues by missing the target from close range while another substitute, Shahedul Alam, drove wide of an open net from inside the box.