Federation Cup 2020 : Kings emerge group champions

Defending champions Bashundhara Kings emerged as the group-champions of Group C of the ongoing season’s curtain-raiser Walton Federation Cup 2020 as they beat Chattogram Abahani Ltd by 1-0 goal in the place-deciding match at Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) in the capital on Monday. Argentine-born Chilean forward Raul Oscar Becerra netted the match-winner in the 49th minute. Both Kings and Ctg Abahani earlier confirmed their quarterfinal berth as all losers Rahamatgonj Muslim Friends Society were eliminated from the meet after conceding two consecutive defeats. Last year's runners-up Rahamatgonj conceded a 0-3 goal defeat to Kings in the meet’s opener on last Tuesday and 0-1 goal defeat to Ctg Abahani in the second group match on Friday. In the quarters, Group C champions Kings will take on Group A runners-up on January 3 and Group C runners-up Ctg Abahani will face Group A champions on January 1, both at the same venue at 4:00pm. The Group A quarter-finalists are yet to be confirmed. In the first half, both sides followed defensive strategies and tried to control the midfield rather than playing attacking football. Kings got two free-kicks outside of the box but failed to convert any of those correctly. After the half time, the holders finally got the breakthrough while Raul Becerra broke the deadlock with a close-range header, off a corner from Robson Azevedo da Silva Robinho in the 49th minute (1-0). After conceding the goal, Ctg Abahani came alive and tried hard to equalize the margin, but their attackers failed to break Kings’ strong defence. Both Kings and Ctg Abahani made three replacements each. Ctg Abahani midfielder Monaem Khan Raju conceded a yellow card.