Schools football underway

Action from yesterday's National School Football Tournament match between Government Laboratory High School and Kakoli High School at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Photo: Courtesy

Government Laboratory High School started their National School Football Islami Bank Tournament on a winning a note when they came from behind to defeat Kakoli High School 3-1 on the opening day of the Dhaka Metropolis zone at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Sakib Hossain put Kakoli High School ahead in the very fourth minute only to be cancelled by Nion in the 15th minute of the 20-minute first half.
After the breather, Koushik gave Govt Laboratory a lead in the 31st minute with an angular shot before Nion struck his second goal one minute from time to seal the victory and ensure a second-phase berth.
The 50-minute (20+10+10) game seemed equivalent to a full-length match for the school boys, who appeared tired after playing the first 15 minutes. Both teams seemed to play without purpose with the obvious reason being that the teams could not have enough practice.
After talking to a few games teachers of participating schools, most of them informed that they have just started training a few days ago after enrolling their names in the tournament following the directives of the Education Ministry.
This tournament is considered the country's biggest school tournament in terms of participating schools (48000) across the country with 100000 footballers using 10000 footballs.
The National School Football Championship basically got underway with 70 schools from Dhaka Metropolis but the opening ceremony saw a few instances of mismanagement by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), who could not control a hundred unexpected persons inside the ground.
The BFF ground committee marked the lines of the ground just before the start of the opening ceremony.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurated the meet while State Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarker, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports Jahid Ahsan Russell, BFF President Kazi Salahuddin and Chairman of Bangladesh Football Federation's School Committee Mahfuzur Rahman were among others present.