Booters stave off Malaysia
The Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur must be one of the luckiest venues for the Bangladesh national football team. The men in red and green, who had lost twice against Malaysia's under-22 team in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at home earlier this year, have now held the senior Malaysia side to consecutive draws in friendlies at this venue in four years.
The first stalemate came in 2011 when Zahid Hossain Emily's 82nd minute penalty had cancelled out an early goal by the Malaysians, before last night's bizarre goalless draw where, despite chasing their own shadows most of the time, the men in red and green managed to come out with a favourable result.
Despite sitting only two places above Bangladesh in the latest FIFA rankings, Malaysia are believed to be a much stronger side and that was evident from their youth team's performance in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup. The pattern of play in yesterday's match, with the hosts enjoying two-thirds of possession and having more than a dozen shots on target against a single one from the visitors, spoke volumes about the hosts' superiority.
But buoyed by the raucous support of a few hundred expatriate Bangladeshis at the venue, who easily outnumbered those cheering for the hosts, Bangladesh showed how determined they were not to concede a defeat, even if it meant keeping their shop shut the whole time.
Lodewijk de Kruif's charges, playing in 4-5-1 formation with a very low line of defence, showed a bit of attacking intent in the first half and made a couple of forays into opposition half. Jamal Bhuiyan played a wonderful through-ball which was gathered by the Malaysia keeper just in time, ahead of winger Jewel Rana in the 25th minute. Hemanta Vincent Biswas then made a couple of galloping runs down the right wing, only to find lack of support in the attacking third. At the other end, Bangladesh conceded two free-kicks from just outside the box, with goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel making a fine save, while the other one was blasted over the bar.
The second half was one-way traffic throughout, but Bangladesh's defence stood firm while Sohel proved to be a wall too impregnable for the hosts, who were less than average with their finishing. Like his counterpart, de Kruif made a number of substitutions in the second half, who completed the job quite efficiently in the end.
The draw will definitely provide some encouragement to the Bangladesh team as they fly for Perth today to face the Socceroos in a World Cup qualifier on September 3, but the Aussies will undoubtedly be a challenge of a different level altogether.
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