Bangladesh topple Qatar 2-0

Bangladesh national Under-16 football returned home yesterday after completing their AFC Under-16 qualifying competition with happy note held in Doha. Bangladesh completed their group matches on Sunday night trouncing a mighty Qatar 2-0. Bangladesh team, who were drawn in the Group E along with the strong teams UAE, Yemen and the hosts Qatar, but in absence of UAE, Bangladesh had to play two matches. Bangladesh youngsters demonstrated very impressive performance against their stronger counter part of Yemen and Qatar. In their opening match against Yemen Bangladesh despite suffered 0-2 defeat but fought evenly but were unfortunate they conceded the first goal in the fourth minute of first half added time and the second goal in  the second minute of the injury period of 90 minutes time while producing some good chances failed to score goals.

However, Yasin Arafat, captain of the team, when talking to the reporters at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Bhaban yesterday expressed some of their experiences and feelings playing in the top level competition.

Yasin about conceding two goals at the dying minutes of both sessions said, “It was unfortunate we conceded the goals at the eleventh hour, actually we just lost concentration at that time.”

Captain has also confusion about the first goal, when Yemen scored from a penalty, Yasin said, “It was a high ball inside the area and one of their forwards of Yemen grounded after a slight touch with our defender Sanwar’s leg. After the match we watched the video and saw it was very feeble, referee could avoid it.”   

About the win against hosts Qatar, “We had only target not to concede goals against Qatar but to score. Our strategy was to play with counter attacks and looking for the mistakes from them and we were success playing with the trick.”

Replying to a query Yasin said, “Our first demand is a long time camp. Qatar played five preparation matches for the competition, all of their coaching staff are foreign and trained in academy for long time. But conceded 2-0 defeat to us, so we want that we will have the opportunity to have training facilities in a long time camp to build up ourselves for future.”

Qatar made five changes to the team after losing 6-1 to Yemen, while Bangladesh fielded the same starting lineup that had lost 2-0 to the same opponents.

Bangladesh had the best opportunity in the first half when Miraj Molla was released on the left after a long clearance from Yeasin Arafat.

The forward did well to beat his marker Abdulrahman Al Basti for pace, but his touch was too heavy, allowing keeper Yousef Balideh to come off his line and collect the ball.

Bangladesh were clearly the better team in the second period but missed out on two opportunities in quick succession.

First Molla blasted over the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat in the 61st minute and moments later, Dipok Roy also missed in similar fashion.

But Roy redeemed himself shortly after when he rose above a crowd of Qatari defenders to head home a corner from the right by Molla in the 70th minute.

Yousef Othman Thabit then tested Bangladesh keeper with a powerful effort, which the keeper did well to punch away.  Bangladesh doubled their lead in the 81st minute when Foysal Ahmed Fahim beat Balideh with a low shot from outside the box.

Bangladesh topple Qatar 2-0

Bangladesh national Under-16 football returned home yesterday after completing their AFC Under-16 qualifying competition with happy note held in Doha. Bangladesh completed their group matches on Sunday night trouncing a mighty Qatar 2-0. Bangladesh team, who were drawn in the Group E along with the strong teams UAE, Yemen and the hosts Qatar, but in absence of UAE, Bangladesh had to play two matches. Bangladesh youngsters demonstrated very impressive performance against their stronger counter part of Yemen and Qatar. In their opening match against Yemen Bangladesh despite suffered 0-2 defeat but fought evenly but were unfortunate they conceded the first goal in the fourth minute of first half added time and the second goal in the second minute of the injury period of 90 minutes time while producing some good chances failed to score goals. However, Yasin Arafat, captain of the team, when talking to the reporters at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Bhaban yesterday expressed some of their experiences and feelings playing in the top level competition. Yasin about conceding two goals at the dying minutes of both sessions said, It was unfortunate we conceded the goals at the eleventh hour, actually we just lost concentration at that time. Captain has also confusion about the first goal, when Yemen scored from a penalty, Yasin said, It was a high ball inside the area and one of their forwards of Yemen grounded after a slight touch with our defender Sanwars leg. After the match we watched the video and saw it was very feeble, referee could avoid it. About the win against hosts Qatar, We had only target not to concede goals against Qatar but to score. Our strategy was to play with counter attacks and looking for the mistakes from them and we were success playing with the trick. Replying to a query Yasin said, Our first demand is a long time camp. Qatar played five preparation matches for the competition, all of their coaching staff are foreign and trained in academy for long time. But conceded 2-0 defeat to us, so we want that we will have the opportunity to have training facilities in a long time camp to build up ourselves for future. Qatar made five changes to the team after losing 6-1 to Yemen, while Bangladesh fielded the same starting lineup that had lost 2-0 to the same opponents. Bangladesh had the best opportunity in the first half when Miraj Molla was released on the left after a long clearance from Yeasin Arafat. The forward did well to beat his marker Abdulrahman Al Basti for pace, but his touch was too heavy, allowing keeper Yousef Balideh to come off his line and collect the ball. Bangladesh were clearly the better team in the second period but missed out on two opportunities in quick succession. First Molla blasted over the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat in the 61st minute and moments later, Dipok Roy also missed in similar fashion. But Roy redeemed himself shortly after when he rose above a crowd of Qatari defenders to head home a corner from the right by Molla in the 70th minute. Yousef Othman Thabit then tested Bangladesh keeper with a powerful effort, which the keeper did well to punch away. Bangladesh doubled their lead in the 81st minute when Foysal Ahmed Fahim beat Balideh with a low shot from outside the box.