Bangladesh Under-23 national football team started their Asian Games mission with a 1-0 win over current SAFF champions Afghanistan at the Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea, on Monday. Skipper Mamunul Islam was the star of the show as his stunning 84th-minute strike almost from the halfway line gave Bangladesh victory. The other Group B match between Uzbekistan and Hong Kong ended in a 1-1 draw. That means Bangladesh are now topping the group with full three points.
Though Afghanistan were the dominant side throughout the game with a 66 per cent possession of the ball and did everything to get a goal over their Bangladeshi counterparts before Mamunul scored the crucial winner from counter attack.
Luck was not in favour of Afghanistan too, when the referee denied them of a sure penalty in the 21st minute.
Before the match, Bangladesh coach Lodewijk de Kruif vowed to play counter-attacking football against a higher ranked Afghanistan (129th). And his charges executed his plans properly.
In the 21st minute Bangladesh defender Yasin Ahmed brought an Afghan forward down inside the penalty box and despite the appeal for penalty by the Afghan players the referee refused to give it.
Bangladesh Striker Wahed Ahmed squandered a golden chance in the 27th minute as he could not take a proper shot on goal.
In the 49th minute, Bangladesh heaved a sigh of relief when Afghan forward Faisal’s shot was saved by Bangladesh keeper Rasel Mahmud Liton from the goal-line and the Afghanistan players thought the ball had crossed the line, but referee waved away.
Wahed had another opportunity to open the scoring in the 68th minute when Hemanta Vincent Biswas provided a lovely through from the halfway, unmarked Wahed managed to collect the ball but an Afghan defender cleared it before the striker could take the shot.
Mamunul finally broke the deadlock in the 84th minute, collecting a back-pass from Wahed and unleashing a 40-yard strike which flew into to the Afghan post.
After conceding the goal, Afghanistan put a huge pressure to level the score and created two golden chances but defender Yamin Munna and Yasin Khan cleared both the chances for corners.
In the dying moment of the four-minute added time, Bangladesh got another chance to double the lead when Jamal Bhuiyan took a long shot from almost halfway line but his attempt went inches past the post.
Bangladesh will face group favourites Uzbekistan in their second match to keep their second round hope alive on Thursday.
-With New Age input
