The Bangladesh football team returned home on Friday in a jubilant frame of mind as they were received by officials of football’s governing body with flower garlands.
The national footballers arrived in Dhaka from Goa, India where they took part in a FIFA international friendly against the hosts. Bangladesh put in an impressive display and drew 2-2 despite dominating large periods of the game.
Like the previous game between the two sides at the SAFF Championship last year which ended 1-1, Bangladesh were again denied a win in controversial circumstances.
Right after Indian forward Sunil Chhetri scored the second of his two goals late in the game to equalise for the home side, young Bangladesh striker Toklis Ahmed scored a perfectly good goal which was disallowed by the referee.
Despite the late drama, Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam was satisfied with the result.
‘After our performance for Sheikh Jamal in the IFA Shield competition, the belief amongst us only got stronger. We were confident that we would not go down in defeat,’ said Mamunul.
‘We desire of carrying our consistency forward in the coming days,’ he said.
The left-footed playmaker hoped that there would be more matches for the national side in the future.
‘Besides gaining experience, we also have to play more international matches in order to form an understanding between the players,’ said Mamunul.
‘[Atiqur Rahman] Meshu, [Zahid Hasan] Ameli, Mithun [Chowdhury], Zahid [Hossain] and myself have been playing in the national team for a long time so we can comprehend each other’s movements which is important for playing well,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Football Federation vice president Tabith Awal notified that they had asked India to participate in a FIFA international friendly in Dhaka.
Awal informed that they were also trying to arrange FIFA international friendlies against Thailand and Malaysia. Bangladesh last played the duo in 2012.
-With New Age input
