Bangladesh secure first trophy of the season

Bangladesh became unbeaten champions of the UEFA-Assist U-16 Development football tournament as a treble from Moinul Islam powered the hosts to a massive 6-0 win over Maldives in the four-team group final match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

With three wins in a row, Bangladesh finished on top of the round-robin league based tournament with the maximum of nine points, three more than second-placed Faroe Islands, who beat Cambodia 2-0 in the day’s first match. Maldives and Cambodia finished with one point each.

The boys in red and green, who needed just a single point against the Islanders to win the competition after having clinched a 3-1 win over Faroe Islands in the second match on Friday, just toyed with their South Asian opponents, who were helpless throughout the match and could hardly produce any resistance against Bangladesh’s onslaught.

The charges of Robert Martin Ryles took only seven minutes to break the deadlock with Moinul Islam making a few exchanges with Jony Shikdar before playing a cross from the left side to Emo Islam Babu, who rose high to nod home before Moinul drove off target in the 11th minute.

With Bangladesh playing in Maldives’ half, Sajed Hasan Jummon suddenly let loose a powerful shot from outside the box which reached the back of the net following a deflection off a Maldivian defender in the 14th minute. Apurbo Mali widened the lead with a header in the 23rd minute.

Moinul, who struck a brace against both Cambodia and Faroe Islands, made it 4-0 in the 37th minute by driving an Emon square-pass home from inside the box.

After resumption, Moinul scored Bangladesh’s fifth goal by converting a penalty in the 52nd minute before an unwanted incident marred the match.

Maldivian forward Mohammed Raif Fazeel was involved in a scuffle with Bangladeshi players following a foul and was subsequently sent off by Kuwaiti referee Ali Shaban, who was also forced to give marching orders to a Maldivian official. The Maldivian officials seemed frustrated with the decision from the referee, who also sent off head coach Mohammad Nizam in the latter part of the match.

The match resumed after seven minutes and Bangladesh kept their possession intact against 10-man Maldives, pressing hard to widen the margin with Saiful Islam rattling the crossbar in the 82nd minute.

Moinul eventually completed a hattrick with his seventh goal of the tournament to wrap up the victory in the 86th minute. The lad from Barisal made space behind himself by receiving a cut-back from before turning around to drive a powerful shot from inside the box past goalkeeper Zaidhaan Mohamed. The win not only secured the first trophy of the season for Bangladesh but also put their disappointment of the SAFF U-15 and AFC U-16 campaigns behind.