Defending set-pieces continues to be a major issue for Bangladesh, who have already conceded three goals from such situations in their first two matches at the 10th SAFF Championship.
Both of Nepal’s goals in their 2-0 opening match victory over Bangladesh on August 31st were scored from dead-balls. The latest blow came on Tuesday, when Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri curled a free kick from the edge of the box into the top corner to level the scores in the final moments of the match and break Bangladeshi hearts.
The scenes were not new to Bangladesh, who also conceded a vital goal to Nepal at the last SAFF Championship in Delhi, when Nepal captain Sagor Thapa thundered home a free kick from 35 yards out in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time to steal a 1-0 victory.
The players, particularly the defenders, admitted that they were suffering as a result of conceding goals from set-pieces and speculated on the reasons behind the regular lapses.
‘Maybe we failed to mark the opponents properly during the set-piece,’ left back Waly Faisal offered on Wednesday.
‘But the goal by Sunil Cheetri was a special one, as he converted it successfully with a cool head. Maybe we enabled it by not designing the wall perfectly,’ he added.
Centre back Ariful Islam also observed that the wall was not well-prepared to defend the set-piece.
‘We always practice that, how to defend set-pieces. Even before we came here, our coach had several [practice] sessions for set-pieces, but in the matches we have failed to execute our plan on the field,’ said Ariful.
‘Maybe our front-liners
don’t have the skill to defend set-pieces,’ the defender added.
Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin used to say that Bangladesh have a major problem with set-pieces.
‘Our players don’t know how to defend set-pieces or how to convert them into goals. We are always suffering with that problem,’ the BFF president had said previously.
-With New Age input
