Football is one of the most popular sports in Bangladesh. Compared to the past, the standard of Bangladeshi football is believed to have gone down and our recent achievements in cricket have definitely overshadowed the past fame of our nation’s football. But however this did not affect football’s popularity as several football tournaments are organised in and outside Dhaka on a regular basis. And as we all know football fever grips the nation during every FIFA World Cup. These days the various leagues in Europe and South America are closely followed on television especially by the youth.
Football is a sport that brings everyone together. Years ago, our parents and grandparents used to be highly enthusiastic about Abahani-Mohammedan matches. Back then, the stadium used to be jam-packed and people used to stand on queues for hours to get a ticket for the local derby.
To a great extent the Bangladesh under-16 football team has brought back those old memories back for many. Bangladesh Under-16 football team has earned glorious success winning the first ever title of the SAFF Under-16 Football Championship beating powerful India by 4-2 in the tie breaker. Bangladesh’s achievement was particularly impressive as they became the new champion with an all-win record in the tournament, which concluded on August 18. The SAFF U-16 Championship is an international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) and is held every two years. The first edition of the tournament took place in Nepal in August 2011. The competition was launched under the leadership of SAFF President Kazi Salahuddin.
The 2015 SAFF U-16 Championship, hosted by Bangladesh, was the 3rd edition of the SAFF U-16 Championship. The nine day long tournament kicked off on 9th August at Sylhet District Stadium. Divided into two groups’ six teams from SAARC countries took part in the international tournament. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives took part in the tournament. Sri Lanka, India and host Bangladesh was put in group A while the group B comprised of Nepal, Afghanistan and Maldives. Pakistan and Bhutan did not play in the championship.
The boys who represented Bangladesh in SAFF U-16 Championship included Faisal Ahmed, Shawon Hossain, Fahim Morshed, Sarwar Zaman Nipu, Mohammad Shawon, Saaduddin, Mohammad Atikuzzaman, Jahangir Alam Sajib, Khalil Bhuiyan, Mustafiz Khan, Emon Khan, et al.
In the opening day of the tournament India beat Sri Lanka 5-0 while in their first match Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka 4-0. Sarwar Zaman Nipu in an amazing performance scoring the 2nd and the 4th goal. Bangladesh emerged Group A champion with all-win record and reached the semifinal beating India by 2-1 goals in the group match on 13th August. Mohammad Atiquzzaman Atiq scored the match-winning goal in the 84th minute from a penalty (2-1) shot.
Bangladesh successfully reached their first-ever final of the SAFF U-16 by defeating Afghanistan by 1-0 goal on 16th August. After the first half, talented player Saad Uddin scored the match winning goal for Bangladesh in the 56th minute. In the day’s match, Bangladesh earned deserving victory after dominating over their physically superior Afghan rivals for most of the time despite a muddy ground. Striker Sarwar Zaman Nipu received two yellow cards in this match and was suspended for the final. Afghanistan also came to semi final by defeating all the teams they faced.
On the other hand, India U16 team won their semifinal match against Nepal 1-0. The match was highly competitive and Nepal U16 team actually played better than India. But unfortunately Nepal did not get any goal and India scored a goal and qualified for SAFF Under 16 championship 2015 final.
Bangladesh coach Syed Golam Zilani inspired his team for the final match. He told his boys , “We know final is a different ball game and India are tactically and technically sound, but in front of the home crowd, we are ready to put our best and win the title” said Zilani.
The much anticipated final match of SAFF U-16 Championship was held on 18th August at Sylhet Stadium. Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and SAFF president Kazi Mohammad Salahuddin was the chief guest in the final match. Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Arif Khan Joy and BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy were also present on the occasion.
Bangladesh boys ended the 90-minute match with a 1-1 draw in front of 20,000 capacity crowd at the stadium under floodlights. Bangladesh’s Fahim scored the first goal of the match at the 46th minute, giving a 1-0 lead for the home side. But India’s Avinash scored the first goal on behalf of his team at 63rd minute. Bangladesh got its first real chance in the 11th minute of the match when Saad Uddin , the hero of semifinal attempted a header but the ball went outside the bar. Bangladesh could have scored their first goal ten minutes later after a nice passing combination from the young booters. Bangladesh finally went ahead in the 46th minute when captain Shawon fooled two Indian defenders and sent a cross from the left side to Fahim and later Fahim sent it to the nets. Hence Bangladesh scored 1-0 at the beginning of 2nd half of the match.
However, India equalised through Avinash Marajkar after the seventeen minutes of first goal and the match was the tied at 1-1. After the final whistle, the match directly went to tie breaker due to power failure in the stadium. In the tiebreaker, Bangladesh scored from  all the four shots while India missed the 3rd and 4th attempt after two successive goals. Fahim Morshed, Jahangir Alam Sajib, Mohammad Atiquzzaman and local boy Saad Uddin delivered their penalty shootouts correctly for Bangladesh. On the other hand, substitute Saurabh Meher and Mohammad Rakip scored from first two attempts for India. The 3rd Indian attempt of Abhijit Sarkar was failed. His penalty shootout punched the side bar while Bangladesh goalkeeper Faisal Ahmed foiled the 4th attempt of Indian player Mohammad Saqlain Khan. Finally Bangladesh won SAFF U-16 Football Championship 2015 by defeating India. Bangladesh captain Shawon Hossain was adjudged as the man of the final.
Syed Golam Zilani, the coach of Bangladesh admired the Bangladeshi players for playing so well against India. He said “I am very happy to fulfill our dream, we won the match through proper utilisation of the chances that came our way. I am happy with the result.”
Bangladesh captain Shawon said, “Our target was to be the champions. We didn’t bother who are our opponents were.”
Indian coach Bithan Singh said, “Bangladesh won the match playing good football. We congratulate the Bangladesh team.”
The level of performance of the young footballers simply cannot be measured in numbers, statistics or the matches won. What made it sweeter was the fact that there were low expectations from this team and their performance came as a pleasant surprise for the sports-lovers. Perhaps, it was the lack of expectations and the non-existent pressure that helped the team play with a clear head. Perhaps, it was a consequence of the training, hard work and the confidence that they have built up by working in the past few years. The young Bangladeshi players proved that they can also bring honour for their country like Bangladesh national cricketers. We hope that the people of Bangladesh do not have to wait for too long to see major success in international football.