Bangladesh skipper Jamal Bhuiyan stated that the men in red and green were unlucky not to have secured a win over their superior opponents despite sharing the spoils with Afghanistan in the two FIFA-friendly matches. The matches were played between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
After the first game at the Bashundhara Kings Arena ended in a goalless draw, Bangladesh battled back from a goal down in the second game to tie Afghanistan 1-1. Yesterday’s match took place at the Bashundhara Kings Arena. Sheikh Morsalin scored the goal that brought the match to a tie just ten minutes after Afghanistan’s attacker Jabar Sharza gave his team the lead with a header in the 52nd minute.
We were the team that did a better job of creating scoring opportunities across both of the games. Unfortunately, we were unable to make use of those, and moving forward, we need to take the lessons learned from these two matches into consideration. Jamal stated during the post-match press conference that “we have to get better and improve ourselves.” The Afghan officials were not present for the press conference.
After arguing with one other on the sidelines during the match, the head coach for Afghanistan, Abdullah Al Mutairi, and the assistant coach for Bangladesh, Hasan Al Mamun, were both dismissed from their positions.
Al Mutairi played eight players who were based in countries other than their own in an effort to establish early dominance and achieve their goal of becoming the first team to defeat Bangladesh on their home turf. However, Bangladesh was able to withstand the first pressure and proceeded to put on a greater performance than the Afghans in the second half, which took place on a ground that had been wet by the rain.
“I believe Afghanistan dominated the first twenty minutes of the first half, but we controlled the game, especially in the second half,” she said. We had some nice opportunities, and we were able to capitalize on one of them and make a comeback in the game,” Jamal explained further.
We were prepared for Afghanistan to press high and dominate us from the very first minute, but we were able to adjust to their style. The boys as a whole had no trouble adjusting. In addition to this, the coach made some adjustments in the second half, primarily consisting of some minor adjustments here and there, and as a result, we were able to dominate them.
Jamal also agreed that the routine of playing on wet outfields had aided his troops yesterday. he said this in the same sentence.
With a cross to the near post, right back Bishwanath Ghosh was the one who helped Morsalin score the winning goal. During the SAFF Championship, Morsalin scored his first goal for his country against Maldives off a Bishwanath assist. The goal came during the match against Maldives.
“Since we are members of the same club and play together, we are familiar with how and where to deliver the ball, as well as who will move where. I have a good understanding and communication with my teammate Rakib [Hossain], who sent it to me, and all I did was push it in the direction of Morsalin and Jamal so they could take advantage of it. Moraslin was the first one to get to it,” Bishwanath remarked, adding that he would have been pleased if Bangladesh came out of the game as winners. Moraslin was the first one to get to it.
Bangladesh’s head coach Javier Cabrera was certain that his team will advance through Maldives in the World Cup and Asian Cup pre-qualifiers, which are both scheduled to take place in October. The two friendly matches were basically organised for this purpose.
“The target was to prove ourselves that we are ready to beat Maldives, and we are absolutely convinced that this team has what it needs to qualify and to play in Australia in November,” said the Spanish coach. “We are absolutely convinced that this team has what it needs to qualify and to play in Australia in November.”
The head coach, who is 38 years old, did not want to concentrate on the errors that his players had committed during the two contests, however.
“I believe that we have found our way back to the correct path. I don’t believe that this is the time for us to try to figure out where we went wrong. I believe that we have got a very wonderful opportunity here. Not only did we have a very excellent game today, but we also played well in both of our matches today.
We are making good headway, and it is imperative that we continue down this path. “At this level, we can accomplish something significant,” said Cabrera. “We will see for sure, there will be things that we can improve, but at this point, we can accomplish something significant.”