Kuwait shatter Bangladesh hearts in extra time

After an incredibly gutsy performance in the first 90 minutes, Bangladeshi hearts got shattered in extra time as Kuwait scored the decisive goal to hand Bangladesh a 0-1 defeat in the semifinal of the SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India on Saturday.

Defender Abdullah Al Buloushi delivered the crushing blow in the second minute of stoppage time of the first half of the extra time. His right-footed strike went in-between the feet of Topu Barman, and Bangladesh goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico, who emerged as Bangladesh’s savior numerous times in the match, for once couldn’t make the save.

Conceding the late goal clearly demoralised the Bangladesh players, who had stopped the much stronger Kuwait from scoring for over two hours.

In the 117th minute, however, almost out of the blue Bangladesh also got a chance equalise.

Zico’s goal kick bounced a couple of time before finding Rakib in the Kuwait half. But the Bangladesh No.10’s strike was deflected by the outstretched right foot of Kuwait goalkeeper Kameel and with that Bangladesh’s hopes of taking the match into a penalty shootout also came to an end.

Right after the final whistle, Bangladeshi players, who felt hard done by many decisions during the match and got into a scuffle with the opposition players.

The referee, who had shown the red card to Bangladesh’s physician in the second half, then showed red card to another member of Bangladesh’s support staff after scuffle ended before being escorted out of the field surrounded by security personnel.

The match had started in a promising manner for Bangladesh as the Jamal Bhuiyan-led side stepped up against Kuwait, who are 51 slots ahead of them in the FIFA rankings.

An entertaining first half saw both sides getting their fair share of chances to score but both failed to draw first blood.

The first and perhaps the best chance of the first 45 minutes of the match belonged to Bangladesh, when Sheikh Morsalin found himself in a 1v1 situation against the Kuwait goalkeeper.

Rakib burst through the right wing, wiggled past Kuwait’s left-back before sending a cross to Morsalin, who was waiting in the d-box all alone.

However, Morsalin, who had scored in Bangladesh’s first two matches, rushed his righ-footed attempt which went straight to the goalkeeper.

The fierce shot deflected from the keeper and returned to Morsalin but this time two Kuwaiti defenders were there to not allow Morsalin the room to unleash a second shot.

The rest of the half saw a lively back and forth contest, with Kuwait coming close to scoring multiple times and Bangladesh also looking threatening in counter –attacks.

But in a sunny afternoon in Bengaluru, both sides had to end the first half without anything to show for their efforts.

In the second half, goalkeeper Zico saved Bangladesh from conceding multiple times while Rakib came agonisingly close to sealing a famous victory for Bangladesh.

After a barren first half, Kuwait started the second half visibly more aggressive. However it was Bangladesh who got the first clear cut chance of scoring in the second half.

In the 60th minute, Rakib nearly replicated his wonder goal against Bhutan, as his right-footed strike inside the box from a tight angle rattled the bottom part of the cross bar.

Fortunately for Kuwait and unfortunately for Bangladesh the ball went outside the goalpost after bouncing off the bar.

Kuwait started dominating the match from the 60th minute onwards, coming close to breaking the deadlock multiple times, but Bangladesh goalkeeper Zico was up to task for every challenge.

Bangladesh also threatened a few times on the counter-attack but the visibly tired players lacked the composure to make any serious attempt at goal.

Rakib got another chance to seal the match for Bangladesh in the 87th minute, but his attempt ended up being inches away from the target.

Seven minutes were added at the end of the 90 minutes, but both teams failed to deliver the decisive blow.

Bangladesh players were visibly tired after a grueling 90 minutes and were finding it increasingly difficult to stop Kuwait from scoring.

Zico’s heroics still kept Bangladesh alive in the match but ultimately his valour and the incredible display of guts and determination from the Bangladesh team wasn’t enough to take the match to a penalty shoot out.

Earlier, Bangladesh lost to Lebanon 0-2 before defeating the Maldives 2-1 and Bhutan 3-1 to seal their place in the semifinal of the SAFF Championship for the first time since 2009.