Abahani ride on Brazilian duo

Defending champions Abahani maintained their hundred percent record to emerge Group C champions of Independence Cup with an emphatic 3-1 win over Muktijoddha Sangsad in their final group match at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla on Wednesday.

Brazilian duo of Raphael Augusto and Getterson Alves Santos scored all three goals while Nigerian recruit Emmanuel Ikechukwu pulled one back for Muktijoddha Sangsad, who finished runners-up with two wins in three matches.

Buoyed by successive victories over Uttara FC and Bangladesh Air Force, the Sky Blues hardly faced any trouble against the All Reds, who also came into the match on the back of successive victories.

Abahani took only four minutes to break the deadlock when Getterson put a forward pass for Augusto, who raced into the box to place the ball to the left-hand side of Muktijoddha goalkeeper Mehdi Hasan Sraban. The Brazilian midfielder doubled his side's lead with an astonishing grounder from inside the box after receiving a cut-back from Nigerian forward Peter Nworah in the 27th minute.

Muktijoddha pulled one back, with Ikechukwu converting from the spot after Mohammad Roman was brought down inside the box by Emon Mahmud.

Getterson wrapped up the victory with a tap-in after Sraban parried a close-range drive from Faisal Ahmed Fahim.

In the other match of the same group, Bangladesh Air Force came from behind to beat Uttara FC 2-1 at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Flight Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.

After a barren first half, Mohammad Sagor put Uttara FC ahead in the 47th minute, but the lead was cancelled out by Rakibul Islam in the 74th minute before Jewel Mia struck the winning goal in the stoppage time of the second half.