U-23s held by Bahrain

The Bangladesh Olympic opened their Bangabandhu Gold Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Bahrain in Group B opener at the Shamsul Huda Stadium in Jessore yesterday.

Winger Yousuf Sifat provided Bangladesh with an 18-minute lead but Bahrain midfielder Jasim Al Shaikh equalised the margin only five minutes later to deny the young Bangladesh side a similar outcome to their senior team.

Coach Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno however had something to cheer for with his new team, who are participating in the tournament as part of preparation for next month's South Asian Games, as they worked hard throughout the game and were a bit unlucky not to post an outright win over Bahrain, came here with players born between 1995 and 1996.

Moreno chose four senior players – defenders Rezaul Karim, Kesto Kumar Bose and Arup Kumar and goalkeeper Ziaur Rahman – in his starting eleven, and centre-back Reza and Kesto fought well except for one fumble which saw Bangladesh concede the equaliser.

There was also a lack of cohesion in midfield comprising Atiqur Rahman Fahad, Omar Faruque and Mashuk Mia Jonny while two wingers, Sifat and Rubel Mia, spoiled a few good initiates with their selfish individual performance. But the midfielders looked steady to hold the ball in the second half which helped the hosts display better performance compared to the first half.

With both sides struggling to control the midfield on the bouncy pitch, Bangladesh suddenly took the lead in the 18th minute when Rubel Mia was played on the right flank by Jonny and the speedy winger darted into the box to square it for Sifat, who shrugged off his marker and goalkeeper Mahboob Aldoseri inside the box to drive home, leaving the spectators celebrating wildly.

The winger from Narayanganj, however, was booked for taking off his jersey while celebrating the goal.

Bahrain though silenced the home crowd with the equaliser when Jasim took advantage of a misunderstanding between defenders Reza and Kesto and coolly placed it to the far post to bring back Bahrain in the match.   

Aminur Rahman Sajib should have restored the lead in the 52nd minute with the opposition goalkeeper to beat but the striker failed to beat the onrushing goalkeeper.  

Bangladesh once again came close to restoring the lead but Sifat squandered the opportunity as he tried individually instead of playing an early diagonal pass towards unmarked Jonny or Rubel and the chance went wobbling.

With both teams pressing for the lead, Bahrain were reduced to 10 men in the dying moments but Bangladesh could not avail the opportunity in four-minute added time though Sifat nearly struck his second from a free-kick that narrowly missed the near post in the stoppage time.