Bangladesh national football team edged past Kyrgyzstan U-23 by a solitary goal in their opening encounter of the tri-nation tournament held at the Dashrath Rangashala Stadium in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
The men in Red and Green took the lead in 40th minute of the match, when midfielder Saad Uddin crossed the ball but the Kyrgyz defender Kumarbaz Ulu Baiman failed to clear it and put the ball on his own net.
Before Tuesday, Bangladesh played four matches against the Kyrgyz but lost all of them. At last Bangladesh won against the mighty ‘The White Falcons’ in their fifth encounter and made history.
Jamal Bhuyan, the captain of the national side, was not in the team. Instead midfielder Sohel Rana led the team as an interim skipper and his side performed brilliantly to grind out a result.
Ahead of this match, national team coach Jamie Day said that his side will play without any pressure and they did just that on Tuesday’s match. All the players tried their best and they came up trumps.
Bangladesh have been suffering from goal-conceding crisis for a long time. The Red and Green conceded five goals in their last international match against Qatar. Finally, Jamie Day’s side overcame that crisis and won the match by securing a well-deserved clean sheet. Bangladesh earned all three points from their first game and they are now favourites to play in the tri-nation final that is scheduled to take place on March 29.
