Bangladesh national Football team played four matches in the first and second preliminary round of the joint qualifiers of FIFA World Cup 2026 and Asia Cup 2027 when they won one match, drew two and suffered one defeat.
But Bangladesh players saw 13 yellow cards and a red one in their four outings, which is very much alarming for their next matches.
Meanwhile, midfielder Junior Sohel Rana was ruled out for their match against Australia in Melbourne after receiving a red card in the second match of the pre-qualifying match against the Maldives at Bashundhara Kings Arena Stadium on October 17.
Midfielder Saad Uddin and right-winger Rakib Hossain, who had yellow cards at their home match against Maldives, again saw yellow card each in the match at Melbourne against Australia and ultimately were suspended for next match, and Bangladesh had to play their home match against Lebanon on Tuesday without these two vital performers.
Midfielder Saad had his yellow card for putting off his jersey after scoring an equalizer against Maldives in Male. And Rakib saw the yellow card against the Island nations in Dhaka match.
The Saad and Rakib was a big blow for the team. In the press conference before this match against Lebanon, captain Jamal Bhuiyan said that it was happened for their ignorance and miscommunication, as ‘Saad and Rakib did not know that they would be suspended for their two yellow cards (each) in two consecutive matches. They knew it was a match off after three cards. But the rule is that one match off for a player after having two yellow cards.
But as a professional footballer, captain Jamal Bhuiyan can’t avoid his responsibility as the rule is known to him and he should alert Rakib-Saad.
It was very much unexpected that defender Shakeel Ahmed, midfielder Sohel Rana (Sr.) and forward Sheikh Morsalin unnecessarily saw yellow card each against Lebanon despite knowing the card rules.
These three cards, specially, due to card of Sohel Rana Bangladesh will see another setback, as he has a yellow card against Maldives in Dhaka and the experienced midfielder will not be able to play in the next match against Palestine in march 2024.
Seven other players - Bishwanath Ghosh, Mohammad Riday Khan, Md. Sohel Rana (Jr.), Faisal Ahmed Fahim, Murad Hasan, Shakeel Ahmed and Morsalin are also at risk of suspension ahead of remaining four World Cup qualifiers, as they have a yellow card each. Among them, junior Sohel Rana missed the match against Australia after receiving a red card in the second match against Maldives, but he again received yellow card in the first match against Maldives.
BFF President Kazi Saladin and the team’s head coach Javier Cabrera are very much anxious as Morsalin received yellow card against Lebanon.
The BFF president was disappointed as Rakib could not play this match after receiving a card in Australia.
Salahuddin said the media and asked him not to celebrate in that way, it was meaningless to lose energy by running like that way – “I also Morsalin after the match, if I would be the coach, I would have punished him. I have told footballers not to celebrate goals like this. But no one care about it and unnecessary receive cards. In future, if you can do good results, you will be given bonus, if you break the discipline, you will be fined. I have warned everyone,” the BFF President added.
Meanwhile, national football team received bonus for more than taka 50 lakh for reaching in the semifinals in the SAFF Football Championship.
Bonus was announced for all matches of the second round of World Cup qualifiers.
