A Final Before a Final

Mohammedan Sporting Club will look forward to rebuild a tarnished image following an 'unsporting' game against Arambagh in the group stage and the punishment they had received for it when they face archrivals Abahani in the second semifinal of the Protiti Pharma Victory Day Club Cup today.

The match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium will be telecast live by ATN Bangla from 4.15pm.

Everyone dreams about an Abahani-Mohammedan final whenever a tournament is being held. In a bid to avoid Abahani in the semis, event hosts Mohammedan looked set to lose their group match against eventual finalists Arambagh before crowd agitation forced the local giants to play for a win.

The tournament committee, however, forfeited Mohammedan's 3-1 win and fined Tk 50,000 each to both teams for 'hurting the spirit of the game'.

"I don't think the dispute surrounding Tuesday's match will influence my team tomorrow as they don't want to look back. All the players' focus is on the semifinal," black and whites coach Shafiqul Islam Manik said yesterday.

Manik, who has been using about five guest players, admitted his side will start as dark horse against an inform Abahani.

"We didn't have adequate preparation and there is little understanding among the players. Still, Abahani - who have showed superb team work so far - can be beaten if our players use their senses," the former national fullback added.

After resting half a dozen regulars against Arambagh, Manik will have all his booters available against the sky-blues, who will miss key striker Emily and attacking midfielder Abul.

Abahani coach Amalesh Sen thinks the Mohammedan-Arambagh match has hurt the spirit of the tournament as well as affecting his players.

"The tournament committee should have scratched both teams rather than just doing its duty by fining them," opined Amalesh. "It has upset my boys."

The former national midfielder claimed Abul was not shown two yellow cards but the tournament committee has banned him for the semifinal.

Abahani have appealed against the decision but missing Emily would seriously damage their firepower.

Abahani got off on the wrong foot when they lost 1-0 to Badda in the opener but Emily scored in both their wins against Wanderers and Muktijoddha.

It would also be a revenge mission for the sky-blues, who lost 2-1 last December in a three-match exhibition series between the two sides to raise fund for the victims of Cyclone Sidr.