New chapter at Changlimithang
Bangladesh produced a Liverpoolesque fight back to stun regional powerhouse India 4-3 in the opening match of the SAFF U-18 Championship at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan yesterday.
Having conceded three goals in the first half, the boys in red and green had looked dead and buried, but fittingly attired with red shirts, the Bangladesh players channelled their inner Liverpool spirit in the second half to score four times and upset the Indians, thereby taking the pole position in this five-team league format tournament.
It was a sweet revenge for the under-18 team, as they were eliminated by India in the semifinal stage of this tournament's last edition two years ago, when the tournament was branded as the SAFF U-19 Championship. This is also Bangladesh's second age-group level victory over India, and the first one since the under-16 team defeated their Indian counterparts to win the SAFF U-16 Championship title in Sylhet three years ago.
And coincidentally the win came at the venue where eleven months ago Bangladesh football had hit its lowest point, with the senior side's humiliating defeat at the hands of Bhutan in an Asian Cup Qualifying playoff fixture.
Bangladesh started the game brightly and looked to be the more dominant side for the first 15 minutes, but conceded the opening goal in the 19th minute when Lalawmpuia effortlessly raced past a Bangladesh defender, on a long ball from the defence, and placed the ball past Bangladesh's goalkeeper and into the net.
India doubled the lead in the 32nd minute through Edmund Lalrindika's expert spot-kick after Bangladesh skipper Tutul Hossain Badshah had brought down an Indian player inside the box. Bangladesh should have reduced the margin in the 40th minute when Mohammad Shadhin had the goal at his mercy following Mohammad Al Amin's chip that had rebounded off the crossbar, but the centre-forward incredibly lofted the ball over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
India then seemingly took the game away from Bangladesh three minutes into stoppage time of the first half when Rebello Princeton's dipping free-kick ended up at the left-corner of the net, but Mahbub Hossain Roxy's charges turned the tables on the other side of the break.
Jafar Iqbal reduced the arrears with a powerful header from a corner ten minutes after restart before centre-back Rahmat Mia made it 2-3, striking from an indirect free-kick from the top of the six-yard box after India's goalkeeper had gathered a back-pass from one of their defenders.
India soon made two substitutions to stave off the Bangladesh attacks, but Bangladesh took full toll of India's nervous defending, with Mahbubur Rahman heading in the equaliser in the 74th minute.
India produced a couple of chances to regain the lead, but it was Jafar Iqbal's glancing header on a corner in the 91st minute which earned Bangladesh a memorable victory as the red and green camp erupted with joy.
Coach Roxy termed the victory as a brilliant job. “In my playing carrier, I never saw Bangladesh coming back from two goals down. In one word it was a brilliant job by my players,” Roxy said at the post-match briefing. “In the second half we were able to execute the game strategy we had originally set out to execute. We perfectly carried out high pressing and our set-piece plan worked out accurately.”
Meanwhile, hosts Bhutan beat Maldives in the second match of the day to share the top spot with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh will next take on Maldives tomorrow.
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