He made it to the Cup Final after a month

The Slovak coach JOZEF PAVLIK reflects on his job in the club Abahani Chittagong in Bangladesh

The Slovak coach Jozef Pavlik accepted an offer from Bangladesh in the beginning of spring. He has been in this Asian country for more than a month. It seems thart his team Abahani Chittagong has prepared very well after more than 30 practice sessions. He led his team in six games of the pre-season Independence Cup played in the capital Dhaka. One loss and one draw followed three victories, which meant the promotion to the semi final. On Wednesday he was successful. His team outplayed the best club of the country Sheikh Russel KC 4:1 on penalties after a draw 1:1. The team of Pavlik will play with Abahani Dhaka in the finale.
(…) Abahani Chittagong was a champion of Bangladesh in 2013. They ended up 9^th in the last season. „I knew almost nothing on the club, but I did not hesitate a second ,“ says Pavlik who was under contract with the Slovak club ViOn Zlate Moravce in the winter when he got to Bangladesh with the help of an intermediary Jozef Tokos.
(…) A European tends to have respect in an exotic country like Bangladesh „I imagined a big country, a lot of people... Their life style is different and one has to get accustomed to it.“
(…) Bangladesh is on 177.th place in the FIFA ranking. Their peak was 110^th place, but that was 20 years ago. „I have had some experienced with the Asian football. I collaborated with my very good friend Lacko Totkovic when working with the national team of Malaysia. Then I met Mr Ong Kim Swee, who is the head coach of their national team. I have not been afraid. I knew that I could work with the players in Bangladesh. They all speak English and are working hard, they want to learn..“
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