Jibon brace sees off Bhutan
A brace from Nabib Newaz Jibon helped Bangladesh notch up an easy 4-1 win over Bhutan in one of two international tier-1 friendly matches which have been arranged as part of Bangladesh’s preparation for Joint Qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Apart from Jibon’s brace, Biplu Ahmed and Rabiul Hasan netted one goal apiece to give the national team a morale boost before their home fixture against Qatar on October 10. Tenzin Dorjii reduced the margin for the visiting side, who will play a second friendly match against the home side on October 3.
British coach Jamie Day went with almost the same eleven that started against Afghanistan with the only change being defender Riyadul Hasan replacing the injured Tutul Hossain Badsha.
Day’s charges got off to a fine start on the rain-soaked pitch by keeping the Himalayan nation under pressure from the outset.
Jibon was deployed behind lone striker Saad Uddin, who worked hard up front to keep the opposition defenders busy. Meanwhile, constant crosses from both flanks by Mohammad Ibrahim and Biplu Ahmed compounded the misery for the Bhutan defenders.
The home side made a real goal-scoring chance in the 11th minute when Saad whipped in a cross from the right for Ibrahim, who saw his volley deflected narrowly wide of near post.
From the ensuing corner Saad passed to Jamal, who floated in a well-judged lob for Jibon and the Abahani striker rose high to nod home.
In the 32nd minute, defender Yeasin Khan had a good effort from a diving header following a Jamal free-kick but it was blocked by goalkeeper Ngawng Jampel. Jampel, however, was helpless to stop a fierce volley from Jibon connected to from an Ibrahim cross in the 36th minute.
Bangladesh hardly made any defensive errors in the first half, with Riyadul Hasan making a nice clearance to deny Bhutan mid-way through the half, but the backline made one mistake at the start of the second half and conceded.
Yeasin failed to clear a free-kick, which fell to the unmarked Dorji, who made no mistake in slotting home from close range to reduce the margin in the 56th minute.
Substitute Rabiul Hasan, who replaced Ibrahim, caused problems for the visitors and saw his left-footed shot from inside the box tipped over on the hour mark while Biplu, fed by a defense-splitting pass from Sohel Rana, drove wide in the 70th minute.
The right-winger finally made amends to make it 3-1 in the 74th minute after a daunting dribble from Rana, who danced past two players to enter the box before being parried by defender Dorji. A poor clearance, however, found its way to an unmarked Biplu, who drove home at the near post.
Biplu then provided a nice ball to Rabiul inside the box and the super-sub struck his third international goal to wrap up an easy win over Bhutan, who beat Bangladesh during the 2019 Asian Cup play-off qualifiers.