Bangladesh crashed out of the Asian Games football conceding an identical 3-0 defeat against UAE in the second Group E match at the Ying Dong stadium in Guangzhou, China on Tuesday.
Young UAE striker Aljenaiby Ahmed opened the account for his team and his attacking partner Abadallah Mohamed scored a brace.
Bangladesh lost their first match against Uzbekistan by the same margin and the second consecutive defeat meant Bangladesh has no chance of being included in the list of the best third placed teams. Hong Kong, who upset Uzbekistan 1-0 in the other match of the day, will be the last opponent of Bangladesh on Thursday.
Bangladesh coach Robert Rubcic made two changes in the starting eleven with Aminul Haque and Mamun Miah taking the field in the places of Majharul Islam Himel and Zahid Ameli.
Rubcic’s strategy of bolstering the defence, however, worked till the end of the first half as UAE failed to break the deadlock till then. But Bangladesh defence found the UAE onslaught too hot to handle in the second half and conceded three goals.
Bangladesh midfielder Jahid Hossain, capitalising a counter attack, came close to a score in the sixth minute and found UAE goalie Hausani Ali in a one-on-one situation but failed to shot home.
Aljenaiby put his side ahead in the very first minute after the interval beating Aminul with a side volley off an Alabary Ahmed cross from the right flank.
Boosted by the strike, UAE found the rhythm and Abdallah doubled the margin in the 63rd minute.
Taking control of a headed clearance of defender Reazaul, Abdallah beat Aminul in the far post with a cracking shot from the top of the box.
Abdallah sealed the match in the 82nd minute after sneaking through the defence with an Aljenaiby square pass, placing the ball in the near post.
The assistant coach of Bangladesh, Saiful Bari Titu, emphasised the experience the players earned. ‘We do not get a lot of opportunity to play at this level of the game. The experience our players earned maybe is the only benefit for us,’ Titu said.
‘We played well in the first half and got some early chances but could not capitalise them. Our opponents became confident and more attacking after getting the lead which helped them to increase the margin,’ he added.
