History keeps repeating itself

It seems as though Bangladesh have resigned themselves to the fate of being early contenders to exit from the SAFF Championships, a tournament where they once used to walk into the semifinals. It seems as though they have got into the habit of causing their own downfall and giving their supporters lots of reason to remonstrate before the exit.

For the third time in a row, Bangladesh made a meek exit from the group stages of the competition after losing 3-1 against Maldives in their Group B fixture of the SAFF Suzuki Cup at the Greenfield Stadium in Trivandrum yesterday. While the champions of the 2003 edition kept their hopes of progression alive till the last match of the group stages in the two previous editions, this time they failed to save even that bit of grace for themselves. Maruful Haque's charges will be packing their bags after completing the mere formality of facing Bhutan in the group's final match on Monday. Afghanistan’s victory over Bhutan means that they have qualified along with Maldives for the next round.

After the 4-0 thumping at the hands of the defending champions in the opening fixture, it was perhaps difficult for Bangladesh players to dust themselves off for a confident display against a side which sit 22 places above them in FIFA rankings. But the apparent sit-back-and-hit-on-the-counter approach from the opposition made the men in red and green look the more dominant of the two sides.

In the first 20 minutes of the match, the Red Snappers enjoyed more possession, and the nervous pack of Bangladesh defence and midfield, where four changes were made from the previous match, lost the ball needlessly on a number of occasions, being enticed into making reckless challenges around the danger zone. Thankfully Bangladesh were not made to pay for conceding six free-kicks within the first half hour, as the Maldivians hardly managed to test Shahidul Alam.

Bangladesh, though, did find their footing gradually and controlled the midfield with short passes inside their own half, while looking for the long, aerial route to trouble the opposition, but the accuracy of those deliveries left a lot to be desired.

Nevertheless, two brilliant moves in the space of three inspiring minutes from Waly and Jamal -- the two players who didn't start in the previous match -- almost gave Bangladesh the lead. First it was Waly's floating effort which found Zahid Hossain around the far post, but the winger's header came off stick and there was no one in front of goal to tuck it in. Then Jamal showed his class as he suddenly turned on his heels and floated a delectable chip towards the centre of the box where Shakhawat Hossain Rony timed his run beautifully. But the young striker's first touch let him down, and by the time he attempted a shot on goal, the Maldives goalie was all over him.

Disaster struck for Bangladesh in the 43rd minute when Waly conceded a needless penalty by trying to stop a curler from Imaaz Ahmed with his outstretched right hand. Shahidul tried his best to stop Ali Ashfaq's shot and even managed to get a hand on to the ball, but the shot was too powerful for the lanky Bangladesh 'keeper to keep out.

Bangladesh looked more commanding in their attacking forays in the early part of the second half and kept the Maldives defence on their toes. But as the clock ticked by with the equaliser eluding them, Maruful resorted to desperate measures, sacrificing Waly for attacking midfielder Sohel Rana after replacing Jamal with young striker Nabib Newaz Jibon and Rony with winger Jewel Rana.

The moves looked to have paid off when Sohel's 87th minute volley brushed the head of a Maldivian defender before beating the goalkeeper and finding the back of the net.

But taking a defender off and going for a winner made the Bangladesh defence fragile, and swift counter-attacking moves from the Red Snappers made them pay. Substitute forward Naiz Hassan restored Maldives' lead with an exquisite backheel just two minutes later, before Nashid Ahmed, another substitute forward, put the final nail in Bangladesh's coffin, running on to a long ball and beating Shahidul for the third goal, and thereby replicating the scoreline from the 2011 SAFF Championship in Delhi.