Football throws a mixed bag

2018 was a mixed year for Bangladesh football. After a couple of years of international exile, there were enough elements last year to take heart from, yet just enough to keep our hopes and aspirations in check. At the senior level, there was not any tangible achievement to write home about but there were signs that things were getting back to normalcy for the first time since the Thimphu debacle in October 2016 and the 17-month hiatus thereafter. Tangible success came at age-group level, with hopes that success at this level would transform to the senior level at some point in time.

NATIONAL TEAM ENDS

LONG HIATUS

The Bangladesh national team's long hiatus from international football came to an end with a creditable draw away to Laos in an international friendly on March 27. There were refreshing signs of a young brigade emerging under the tutelage of Andrew Ord, but unfortunately the Englishman soon left the job, leaving the game's local governing body with the arduous task of finding a new coach and coaching staff. The search ended two months later when another Englishman named Jamie Day, even more low-profile than his predecessor, was roped in, with the task of preparing a side for three assignments within the next five months.

The Bangladesh Football Federation, meanwhile, did their best to help Day have a well-drilled side at his disposal with two overseas camps in Qatar and South Korea and a number of practice matches away from home. These efforts seemed to have paid off as the Bangladesh Olympic team made an excellent impression in the Asian Games, sealing a historic last-16 berth with a victory over Qatar. In the knock-out phase they were beaten 3-1 by last edition's runners-up North Korea, but the young men in red and green were certainly not humbled.

The senior team, though, failed to match the fitness, spirit and attitude shown by the Olympic team as they lost a friendly match in Nilphamari against Sri Lanka in the build-up to the SAFF Championship. Even though they got the championship proper underway with wins against Bhutan and Pakistan, a last group-match defeat against Nepal -- exposing the team's long malaise of scoring inability -- prompted their group-stage exit from the regional event for the fourth time running. The following month, the Bangladesh team was eliminated from the semifiinals of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup with a single win against two defeats as all the hard work and gains of the previous five months eventually ended in disappointment.

The senior team played a total of eight competitive matches in the calendar year: winning three, losing and drawing one. Despite playing so many matches, unfortunately the team's FIFA ranking remained below 190, moving up just a tad bit in the second half from the all-time low of 197 that it had hit towards the end of last year.

BOYS STEP UP TOO

The good work by the Olympic team was perhaps a fair reflection of the fact that as the age-level drops, the difference between sides tends to shrink. The focus was on the boys' under-15 team, who lifted the SAFF U-15 Championship title with an unbeaten record. The second title at this level in three years prompted the game's local governing body to rethink their strategies regarding age-group football. The team continued their impressive form in a UEFA-funded four-nation tournament in Thailand with a decent outing towards the end of the year.

GOALS GALORE AND GOALS DRY UP IN WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Despite the absence of any domestic opportunities, women's football continued to gather steam at the regional level. The girls' team sealed qualification for the second round of the AFC U-16 Women's Qualifiers with an all-win campaign at home and continued their impressive form in the SAFF U-15 Women's Championship in Bhutan, scoring 22 goals against none in the run-up to the final. However, a 1-0 defeat against India in the final provided the team with a reality check. The under-18 team, however, had the last laugh at the SAFF event where they triumphed with an aggregate of 24 goals scored against only one conceded.

However, goals were lost in transition from the age-group to the senior level and tables were turned on the girls who were playing wearing senior team's shirts. Like their male compatriots, the women's team also ended a lengthy international hiatus, and the results were disastrous. The performance of the U-19 team in AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers came as a wake-up call and things took an alarming turn with some humiliating defeats, exposing the absurdity of using the same set of players at different levels.

A LEAGUE LOST

Things were not much brighter on the local front either as an entire edition of the Bangladesh Premier League was struck off the calendar under the pretext of rescheduling the league and tournaments in line with AFC competitions. However, the Independence Cup was held twice in the calendar year along with one Federation Cup. The good thing was there was more competition in these tournaments than before and the quality of football was much higher than in recent times, with a number of outstanding goals scored. The advent of Bashundhara Kings added glamour and excitement to the game, with their Costa Rican World Cupper Daniel Colindres lighting things up alongside a host of quality foreign recruits belonging to other big clubs. Although the improvement owed a great deal to the increase in the foreign players' quota and quality, some of the young local players also stepped up as a refreshing change to the scene.