BD win practice match 3-1

The Bangladesh national football team’s preparations for the joint qualifiers for the World Cup and Asian Cup tie against hosts Oman seems to be going swimmingly as they notched an easy 3-1 win over Muscat Club in their lone practice match in Oman yesterday.

Nabib Newaj Jibon, Biplu Ahmed and Towhidul Alam Sabuz netted one goal apiece against Muscat Club, who are currently in seventh position of the Oman professional football league.

Bangladesh coach Jamie Day’s intention was to scope out all his players ahead of the Oman tie as the players have had nearly two weeks off since a 1-1 draw against India last month. Day did not waste the opportunity to test all 22 of his players, fielding a separate squad in each half.

Even so, the boys in red and green did not disappoint the Englishman, scoring three goals despite the fact that the defenders made two great mistakes, both of which lead to penalties. The first penalty was duly converted in the first half to hand Muscat their only goal of the game while the second was thwarted by goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel in the second half.

Bangladesh took the lead in the 12th minute when midfielder Rakib Hossain ran down the left flank to whip in a cross which was brought down by Biplu Ahmed before Jibon drove it home from close range.

The lead lasted only five minutes though as right-back Bishwanath Gosh brought down an opposition player inside the box, allowing Muscat’s Tareq to equalise from the spot in the 17th minute.

The visitors then restored the lead in the 28th minute following a tactful move from Saad Uddin and Jibon, who broke the opposition backline by playing a one-two before Jibon’s shot was denied by Muscat’s goalkeeper, however, Biplu made no mistake in tapping in the rebound from close range.

After resumption, coach Day sent in a new set of players, with the exception of defender Tutul Hossain Badsha. Substitute Sabuz then extended their lead in the 65th minute with another tap in after Muscat’s goalkeeper lost his grip on the ball following a long throw-in from Raihan Hossain.

Later, Bangladesh awarded a second penalty to Muscat when Badsha committed a foul inside the box but goalkeeper Shohel, who came on in place of Anisur Rahman Zico, stopped the spot kick in the 73rd minute.

“The boys played well even though it was just a match to see where the players stand at the moment. There were also some mistakes made in areas such as position, covering and others. The coach will now work on those areas to rectify those mistakes in training sessions,” said team manager Satyajit Das Rupu over the phone.