Dorielton drives Kings into Fed Cup final; Mohammedan set up Brothers clash

Defending champions Bashundhara Kings stormed into the final of the Federation Cup with an emphatic 4-0 win over Brothers Union in the first qualifier, courtesy of a brace from in-form Brazilian forward Dorielton Gomes at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Away at Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla, Mohammedan Sporting Club notched up an emphatic 3-0 win in a rain-halted encounter to set up an eliminator against Brothers Union on May 12, with the winner to face Kings on May 19. Jewel Mia struck twice, while Sourav Dewan netted one for Mohammedan.

Although the four-time champions have been struggling with payment issues involving their foreign recruits, they managed to keep the Brazilian goal machine rolling in every match, and the 36-year-old forward once again displayed his goal-scoring ability, even on a heavy ground, to propel Kings to a third successive Federation Cup final.

Kings arrived on the back of the sweet memory of a 4-1 triumph over Bangladesh Police FC in the group-stage final match and expected a repeat of Dorielton’s hat-trick feat. The Brazilian did not disappoint, striking a brace to raise his tally to nine goals from five Federation Cup matches, in between strikes from Rakib Hossain’s opener and substitute Sabbir Hossain’s late effort.

After emerging as Group A champions, Brothers, boosted by six foreign players, were perhaps chasing an unfulfilled dream of reaching the Federation Cup final for the first time in 21 years since their triumph in 2005. However, Kings proved too strong, as Brothers created a number of chances in both halves but failed to convert, with Nigerian Samuel Onoiwu, Pakistani Shayak Dost and Syed Abdullah Shah unable to finish.

Kings found an early advantage to establish control when Rakib, set up by Saad Uddin inside the box, drove past goalkeeper Isqhaque Ankando in the third minute. Dorielton later saw a spectacular overhead effort from a Faisal Ahmed Fahim corner ruled out in the 26th minute.

After the break, Brothers applied pressure and came close to levelling twice, while their goalkeeper Ankando also made two superb saves to keep them in the contest. However, Dorielton doubled the lead in the 71st minute with a composed finish before widening the margin two minutes later with a simple tap-in after a square pass from Shahrear Emon.

Two minutes from regulation time, substitute Sabbir wrapped up the victory with a powerful drive from outside the box after his first attempt deflected off a defender.