Bangladesh's loss to Maldives in a goal-miss exercise

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Bangladesh 1:0 Maldives

Defensive mistakes and missed goals have sunk Bangladesh in the first international friendly match against Maldives. In the 17th minute, Ali Fasir's header from Hamza Mohammad's free kick, standing defenseless in the box, made the difference between the two teams. Maldives was out of international football for a year. Due to various problems, there was no league during this time. Maldives defeated Bangladesh 1-0 at the Kings Arena today.

However, Bangladesh's defense seemed shaky from the start. Tapu Barman and Shakil Ahad showed a lack of confidence in stopping the Maldives' fast forwards. Bangladesh had to concede a goal in the 17th minute due to the lack of coordination of that defense. The foul by Mohammad Hridoy just outside the box that gave Maldives a free kick was also unnecessary. Bangladesh's defenders left Ali Fasir, one of Maldives' best players, completely defenseless in Hamza Mohammad's free kick. Fasir headed the free kick that came towards the goalpost without much hindrance.

Despite conceding a goal, Bangladesh had more scoring opportunities in the first half. Faisal Ahmed Fahim evaded the Maldives defense several times. He repeatedly entered the box with the ball. But there too, his lack of coordination with Rakib Hossain and Sheikh Morshalin was clear. In the eighth minute, Fahim's cross towards the goal after the Maldives defense made a mistake was purposeless. No one was there to catch the cross. In the 15th minute, Rakib's header from Fahim's cross was not strong enough to score.

After conceding a goal in the 17th minute, Fahim's attempt failed in the next minute as well. Rakib's attempt in the 34th minute was the same. In the 37th minute, Morshalin's free kick was headed wide by Tapu Barman. In the 44th minute, Sohel Runner's shot from outside the box unfortunately hit the side post.

After three changes in the second half, Bangladesh established complete dominance over Maldives. Chandan Roy replaced Sohel Rana, and Mujibur Rahman Joni replaced Shah Kazem Kirmani. The coach brought Shahriar Emon onto the field instead of Faisal Ahmed Fahim. After that, Bangladesh put the Maldives defense under pressure with one attack after another. However, despite the pressure, Maldives did not lose direction. Especially the Maldives goalkeeper Hussain Sharif was excellent. He repeatedly turned back the efforts of Bangladesh's forwards.

Shahriar Emon's header missed the target in the 70th minute. In the next 10 minutes, Bangladesh created at least five sure-fire goal opportunities. Hussain Sharif blocked Mujibur Rahman Joni's shot in the 75th minute. He also blocked Morsalin's shot in the 78th minute. The Maldives goalkeeper turned back two more shots by Morsalin in the 78th and 84th minutes. In the 86th minute, Morshalin wasted another chance from Rakib's cut back. Towards the end of the match, another chance was squandered when Tapu Barman failed to head a corner kick.

Not being able to score goals is a traditional weakness of Bangladeshi football. This topic was also raised in the pre-match press conference yesterday. But today, the old picture was seen on the field. Despite playing aggressively and creating many chances, Bangladesh could not score a goal. If you cannot score goals in football, you cannot win; Bangladeshi football once again saw the harsh truth before its eyes.