A gut-wrenching defeat
As the jubilant Malaysian youths joined in with some hundred fans for pitchside celebrations, a few 'what ifs' made the rounds inside the press box and around the Bangabandhu National Stadium last night. What if defender Yeasin Khan did not stutter to a challenge from a Malaysia forward and not inadvertently knee the ball out for a corner in the 91st minute? What if the defence managed to thwart the corner which was the only apparent threat on their goal in the entire second half? And last but not least, what if Hemanta Vincent Biswas and Zahid Hossain -- the two game-changers of the side -- did not suffer the dreadful fate?
But it would be futile to seek the answers to these questions because the day was simply not meant to be Bangladesh's. Their heroic efforts in the second half, cancelling out two first-half goals, didn't prove to be enough to keep the coveted Bangabandhu Gold Cup trophy at home. The towering header from Faizat Muhammad after a swerving corner in the 92nd minute undid the brave efforts of the hosts and snatched away the trophy, which looked increasingly likely to stay with the hosts as the game progressed. The end result was that the Malaysian youths, who kept a hundred per cent record throughout the tournament, went out as winners to emulate their predecessors who had won the inaugural edition of this tournament 18 years ago.
The match couldn't have started on a more ominous note for the hosts. Hemanta, the scorer of the winning goal against Sri Lanka and the key to Bangladesh's attacking forays, pulled a hamstring during warm-up. If that was not a big enough disaster, then one of seismic proportion hit them when influential winger Zahid limped out only seven minutes into the game. These dismissals could be a factor of having only one day's rest for the hosts prior to the final, as coach Lodewijk de Kruif later implied, but whatever the reason was, it was expected that Bangladesh would struggle to cope with such a mental blow; and that is what happened, at least in the first half.
Chasing the ball ever since Zahid's withdrawal and looking to compensate for quality with a very physical approach, the hosts found themselves a goal down after Malaysian skipper Nazirul Naim curled a freekick over the wall and past Shahidul Alam Sohel in the 31st minute. The hosts, apparently short of ideas and spirit, looked dead and buried when Kumaahran sliced one past Sohel nine minutes later.
Sohel's brilliant diving save denied the Malaysians from taking a three-goal lead and saved the blushes of Yeasin, who had looked like a fish out of water for most of the evening.
Whatever pep-talk de Kruif and his backroom staff relayed at the break we may never know, but the men in red and green came out all guns blazing, with all eleven players on the pitch -- including Abdul Baten Komol who had replaced Zahid and Monaem Khan Raju who had taken the place of Hemanta in the starting eleven -- looked like a different unit.
The hosts were enjoying all the possession and literally playing the game in the attacking third, winning corners and throw-ins in dangerous positions during this passage of play, much to the cheer of a full-house crowd that was finally finding its voice. And the hosts were rewarded for their wholehearted approach as they restored parity within just nine minutes of the restart. First it was Zahid Hasan Emily's tap-in at the far post on a rebound on Nasir Chowdhury's header which reduced arrears in the 49th minute, before Yeasin's towering header on Mamunul Islam's corner brought the teams level. But as luck would have it, for all their domination and shots on target, they failed to find the crucial third goal, and had to pay for it in a big way with Faizat snatching the winner at the death.
Comments