‘You get what you deserve’: Hong Kong coach reflects on Dhaka ‘rollercoaster’

For a few fleeting minutes on Thursday night at the National Stadium, it felt like Bangladesh might just pull off something special. But football, as ever, can be cruel.

Star midfielder Hamza Choudhury sank to his knees at full-time, looking skyward in disbelief, perhaps wondering how a performance so full of courage and effort still ended in heartbreak.

In a breathless AFC Asian Cup Qualifier that swung wildly from end to end, Hong Kong, China edged Bangladesh 4-3 in a contest that, at least on paper, had looked a mismatch given the gulf in FIFA rankings, but turned into a riveting, nerve-wracking spectacle in front of a roaring home crowd.

Bangladesh got off to a flying start when Hamza's curling free-kick from the left in the 13th minute -- taken with pace and precision -- took a deflection off a defender's head before finding the net. The goal electrified the National Stadium, and Javier Cabrera's men, buoyed by the noise, pressed higher than usual, playing with rare confidence and control.

For much of the first half, the hosts went toe-to-toe with a technically superior Hong Kong side. But a lapse in concentration deep into stoppage time undid their work -- a scramble from a corner ended with Faisal Ahmed Fahim's misdirected header dropping at Everton Camargo's feet, and he made no mistake in levelling the scoreline.

After the game, Hong Kong coach Ashley Westwood admitted Bangladesh had forced his team to adapt and even concede dominance.

"We just needed to be a little bit more compact. We had to concede a little bit of possession, a little bit of territory," Westwood said. "Bangladesh had two centre backs, two centre midfielders, and two number 10s. They were finding the spaces and making it difficult for us."

"We adjusted our tactics to stay compact, and we knew if we didn't concede, we'd get chances to score. But we had to applaud Bangladesh for their tactics. They were playing good football and caused us a lot of problems."

Westwood's admission summed up what the scoreboard didn't. Bangladesh, ranked 184th, had stretched 146th-ranked Hong Kong to their limits.

The visitors, though, capitalised, often against the run of play. Substitute Raphael Merkies turned the tide with a poacher's finish in the 50th minute and added a second in the 75th to make it 3–1, seemingly putting the game beyond reach.

But Cabrera's side refused to fold. The introduction of Jamal Bhuiyan, Shamit Shome, and Fahemedul Islam reignited the attacking side of things and soon the drama escalated.

A goalkeeper fumble gifted Sheikh Morsalin the simplest of tap-ins to make it 3-2, and moments later, Shamit sent the crowd into delirium with a header deep into stoppage time, making it 3-3, against all odds.

For a few seconds, Dhaka went into a frenzy but football's cruel poetry struck again to stun the thousands inside the ground and it was Merkies, inevitably, who wrote the final line, completing his hatttrick in the dying moments to seal a 4-3 win for Hong Kong and silence the stadium.

Westwood later called it a "roller coaster for everybody involved."

"At 3–1 we were very comfortable, in control," he said. "Unfortunately our goalkeeper got injured, which allowed them to get back into the game. But we've always had that spirit, never say die, fight to the end, and I think it was our will to win that got us over the line."

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Even as he credited his side's resilience, Westwood was quick to acknowledge Bangladesh's surge.

"Once you concede one with the crowd at 3-2, there are always going to be edgy moments," he added. "We had injuries, unforced substitutions, lost a centre back for five minutes. Those things gave the home side impetus. But I thought we deserved to win. You may not feel that because you scored so late, but sometimes you get what you deserve."