Bangladesh fall to late goal in lifeless display against Bhutan

Despite winning the first international friendly, Bangladesh’s performance was far from noteworthy. The players struggled against Bhutan’s height advantage and couldn’t maintain their stamina.

Even so, Javier Cabrera’s side managed to leave the pitch with a fortunate 1-0 win. However, in the second friendly match, the visitors couldn’t put up much of a fight. The lifeless team conceded a goal late on and left the field with a defeat.

Before these two friendly matches, Bangladesh’s coach and players were full of confidence. They expressed their desire to win both matches.

However, the players failed to reflect that confidence on the field, and so, they couldn’t achieve their goal. On Sunday, at Thimphu’s Changlimithang Stadium, Bangladesh lost 1-0 to Bhutan, with Bhutan’s goal coming from Kingma Wangchuk.

In friendly matches, playing good football can be the primary objective, beyond just winning or losing. While the focus was on playing well, Jamal Bhuiyan and Mohammad Morsalin’s side had their eyes set on victory.

Bangladesh hoped to win both matches against Bhutan to improve their ranking, aiming to be in pot three for the draw of next year’s Asian Cup third round qualifiers. However, they couldn’t reach their target due to their disappointing football.

In today’s match, Bangladesh made two changes to the starting eleven. Shahriar Emon replaced the injured Rakib Hossain in attack, while Isa Faisal came in for defender Bishwanath Ghosh. Isa made a good impression with his performance. He and Topu Barman handled the defensive duties brilliantly.

From the start, Bhutan applied pressure, but these two defenders kept them at bay. Throughout the match, they didn’t allow the opposition to find the back of the net. However, Bangladesh remained disorganised.

Their midfield appeared erratic, and they couldn’t set up effective attacks. Still, they managed to keep their net intact until the final moments when they conceded. Kingma Wangchuk, left unmarked, scored from a header passed by his teammate.