Wasteful youths win 1-0
A last-gasp strike from substitute Mahbubur Rahman Sufil helped Bangladesh notch a one-goal win over Maldives in their second match of the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers at the Republican Central Stadium in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe yesterday.
Sufil, who replaced Rahim Mia at the start of the second half, finally ended the afternoon duck in the 90th minute and kept them in the hunt to achieve their target of qualifying for the final round of the tournament for the first time since 2002.
The Arambagh striker made no mistake to tap home from close range after Maldivian goalkeeper Ahmed Samah Ali partially parried Jafar Iqbal, who danced into the box past two defenders before unleashing a powerful drive.
With a win and a draw Bangladesh are now on top of the five-team table with four points from two matches, one point ahead of favourites Uzbekistan, who mauled Sri Lanka 10-0 in their opening match yesterday.
After a creditable draw against hosts Tajikistan, Bangladesh took the field with the mission of getting their first win in the tournament against a relatively easy opposition that they had defeated 2-0 in the SAFF U-18 Championship. However, the Maldivians gave Bangladesh a run for their money as their rock-solid defence prevailed until the dying moments.
The lone goal victory however hardly reflected the dominance of Bangladesh in a match where they won 19 corners and created many openings. Unfortunately they failed to cash in on any of them against the deep-lying Maldives mainly due to ambitious solo ventures from their strikers.
"The boys assumed that it would be an easy win over Maldives and they played individually rather than as a team although the instructions were to build up attacks collectively from the back," coach Mahabub Hossain Roxy told The Daily Star over phone, adding that they had created five chances in the first half and 10 in the second.
Striker Jafar Iqbal, Rahim Mia and Mohammad Swadhin squandered numerous scoring opportunities throughout the match and Roxy added that the Maldivians slowed the pace of the match in the second half by feigning injuries and generally wasting time.
Maldives did sporadically launch counter attacks but they failed to break down the Bangladesh backline or trouble goalkeeper Mahfuz Hasan Pritom.
"We mustered a lot of shots on and off target while some headers narrowly missed. It seemed that the day would not belong to us as nothing was going in our favour despite having approximately 80 per cent possession. If the boys could have opened the scoring in the first half, then they would have scored more in the second half," opined the former national player, who however conceded that he was happy to win the match.
"It is also a lesson for the players. They learned what can happen if they take a match casually. I think the boys will improve more in the next match against Uzbekistan, who are a really strong side," concluded Roxy.
The youths will play their Uzbek counterparts at the Hisor Central Stadium on November 6.
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