Booters seal memorable victory
While returning to the dressing room on the back of a foreign coaching staff, defender Tariq Raihan Kazi, wearing a bandage on his left leg and a big smile on his face, could not have looked any happier as Bangladesh kept their semi-final aspirations alive with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Maldives in a crucial SAFF Championship encounter at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru yesterday.
Tariq, who made the decisive fumble against Lebanon that led to a 2-0 defeat in the first match, gave Bangladesh a 67-minute lead after fit-again Rakib Hossain cancelled out a 17-minute strike from Hamza Mohamed minutes before the interval. Afterwards, promising Sheikh Morsalin in the dying minutes wrapped up the victory -- one that arrived against the islanders after 20 years in SAFF Championship.
Not only Tariq, who suffered a ligament damage by sustaining an injury, every player and official looked ecstatic while they were hugging each other following a much-desired win. Later, they were surrounded by busy journalists as they walked towards the team bus from the dressing room.
In crunch situations, the booters had repeatedly shown the tendency to break down, as evidenced by Bangladesh's outings in previous five editions of SAFF Championship, but the charges of Javier Cabrera this time around displayed their strong mental side and cruised to victory eventually.
The Spaniard's decision to field four midfielders behind two forwards worked wonders and Bangladesh took absolute control of the midfield before striking the second goal despite Maldives drew first blood by breaking the deadlock against the run of the play.
Although Bangladesh lacked composure and rhythm before the start of SAFF Championship, the booters seemingly shrugged off the rusts by trusting their possession-based build-up game and they could also launch several planned attacks to keep their opponents on a tight leash throughout the match.
From the onset, Bangladesh started pressing hard for the lead and Rakib and Sohel Rana went close to threatening Maldives before the islanders took the lead following a seemingly harmless move from the left-flank.
Availing a cut-back, Hamza Mohamed whipped a powerful low shot on the right-hand box, leaving goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico helplessly watching the ball kiss the far post. Bangladesh were frustrated but they quickly regrouped to keep their control over the midfield intact.
Bangladesh earned seven corners and several throw-ins in the first half. They cashed in on one after the usual long throw-ins were proving to be ineffective one after another. Collecting a short throw-in, Sohel Rana put a cross for Tapu Barman who showed awareness to head the ball at the far post where an unmarked Rakib was present to head the ball home from close range in the 42nd minute.
Rakib was soon denied by Maldives goalkeeper in the 45th minute and after resumption, Cabrera sent three pairs of fresh legs to unsettle Maldives.
Tariq headed to give a lead in the 67th minute, capitalising on a goal-mouth melee, after his first two efforts following a Mohammad Ibrahim corner were blocked by defenders.
Soon Tariq picked up an injury to leave the ground, leaving Bangladesh in a tricky situation as they approached the dreaded finish line. However, the whole team had their tails up and in the 90th minute, substitute Sheikh Morsalin brilliantly drove a left-footed shot inside the box to give a two-goal cushion; and although Hamza rattled Bangladesh's crossbar in stoppage time but Bangladesh had the victory firmly in their grip by then.