Mohammedan SC yesterday flew in Portuguese coach Rui Jose Capela Batista as their eighth foreign coach to guide the Black and Whites in the ongoing season after local coach Saiful Bari Titu had decided to join the Bangladesh Football Federation.
With the appointment of Capela, Mohammedan are expecting to grab their first-ever title in the seventh edition of the professional football league. However, the 44-year old coach himself did not give any such promise, but said he would help the Black and Whites make improvement from their last year's position, which was fifth-place finish.
The UEFA leve-2 licensed coach's last job was as the sporting director of the U-18 side of Paraguay's second division side Club Atletico 3 de Febrero, according to the information available on the internet. Batista was associated with the club from 2011 to 2013 while he had also worked with Portuguese clubs like Esperanca de Lagos, Portimonense, Grupo Desportivode Lagoas and Quarteirnese.
Capela has also experience as a scout for SL Benfica from 2004-06 and Porto FC from 2007 to 2010, played for the U-16 and U-18 national Portugal team. He called his time on his playing career in 2001.
“I have a long experience of coaching in Portugal and Paraguay and I want to utilise that here. I like good football and it is very important for me to coach Mohammedan, who are a major club in Bangladesh,” said Capela, who was seemingly tired following a long trip from Lisbon to Dhaka via Turkey.
Capela came straight to the club tent in Motijheel after arriving in the afternoon and briefed the media, through his poor English skills and later met the players for a few minutes.
“I have coaching experience in Europe and South America and this time I have chosen to gather some experience in Asia and I'm taking the challenge,” said the coach adding that he has little idea about Mohammedan, its players and the football of Bangladesh.
During a short briefing to the players on the club premises, the Portuguese emphasised on three aspects – discipline, intensity and organisation of play.
The 44-year old coach, who is a follower of his more illustrious compatriot Jose Mourinho, prefers the coaching style of Pep Guardiola and claimed that Portuguese superstar Luis Figo is a friend of his and he often speaks to Figo over phone since both of them played at the national age-group teams. Capela also claimed to have played with former Portuguese goalkeeper Vitor Baia at the age-level
Capela has been appointed for a six month tenure, informed director-in-charge of Mohammedan SC Ltd Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan.
“We have yet to win the professional football league but this time we will take all necessary steps in line with Batista's recommendations such as recruiting foreign players in the mid-term transfer window. We are hoping to put an end to the title drought this time,” said Bhuiyan.