Kings storm back to clinch inaugural Challenge Cup title

Miguel Ferreira scored one after setting up two goals as Bashundhara Kings fought back from a goal down to beat Mohammedan 3-1 to clinch the title of Bangladesh 2.0 Challenge Cup at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Friday.
The five-time Bangladesh Premier League champions were lacklustre in the first half and deservedly went to the break trailing by a goal, scored by in the seventh minute with a towering header by Mohammedan skipper Souleymane Diabate.
But Valeriu Tite’s charges stormed back right after a 10-minute flare-induced break, with defender Topu Barman equalising with a flick on a corner from Ferreira in the 73rd minute.
Ferreira, the Brazilian forward then set up Faisal Ahmed Fahim for the second goal with a superb cross as the Bangladesh forward side-volleyed from close range in the 81st minute.
Sheikh Morsalin, another national team player of Bashundhara Kings, had the chance to seal off the victory in the 89th minute when he was right in front of goal on a cross from Jared Khasa, but he inexplicably failed to make contact.
Eighteen minutes were added but the Black and Whites, who lost all three competitions last season to Bashundhara Kings, failed to take the match into extra time.
And then it was Ferreira who wrapped up the victory in style with a solo effort, cutting back iside a host of Mohammedan defenders and then splitting the ball past Mohammedan goalkeeper Sujon Hossain.
It was the first victory for Kings’ Romanian coach Valeriu Tite, who started his tenure with three defeats in the AFC Challenge Cup last month.
The match had started with a minute’s silence observed in memory of former Bangladesh captain Zakaria Pintoo, who recently passed away, and the martyrs of the July movement. The match itself, a new introduction into the domestic football calendar, was arranged in remembrance of the July uprising and all the prize money of Tk 25 lacs were donated to the July Martyrs Memorial Foundation.