Readers` Forum

Memories recalled

Thursday night, I watched Indonesia to draw (2-2) with hosts Vietnam in the 2nd leg of the Suzuki Cup Football semifinal played in Hanoi and thereby sailed into the final of the ASEAN Championship 2016. The winners won the first leg at home 2-1 last week.
The two-leg final will be held on December 14 and 17 with the defending Champions Thailand, which routed Myanmar 6-0 on aggregate in the other semifinal.
 We first came to know about Indonesia in 1960 when the country’s national Champions Makasar Football Club participated in the blue-ribbond Aga Khan Gold Cup Football Tournament in Dhaka. The players’ skills and technique amused the Dhaka crowds, but Calcutta Mohammedan Sporting Club annexed the cup.
In the final, the team from India shattered Makasar Club 4-1 to stun the soccer critics. In the semifinals, Mohammedan SC beat Pak Mughals from Karachi 5-2 while the Indonesian side trounced local league champions Dhaka Wanderers Club 8-0.
However, a year after, another club from Indonesia hammered PW Railways from Lahore 5-0 to win the cup played in a capacity stadium. Interestingly the team from Lahore surprised Dhaka Wanderers Club 3-2 in the final in 1963 to take the biscuit.
Football was really interesting in all times.

Abdullah Akber
Dhaka