Seychelles embarrass Bangladesh
Bangladesh suffered an embarrassing 0-1 defeat against Seychelles in the second match of the FIFA friendly series at the Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday.
Michael Mancienne scored the lone goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 60th minute after Saad Uddin’s senseless challenge against Daryl Louis inside the D-box in the second half.
With the defeat, the two-match series ended 1-1, as Bangladesh had won the previous match by the same deficit.
Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera named the playing XI without captain Jamal Bhuiyan and Nigeria-born striker Eleta Kingsley. Defender Topu Barman wore the captain’s armband in place of Jamal.
The first half ended 0-0, with both teams failing to breach the opposition’s defence.
In the second half, Seychelles, ranked 197 in the FIFA rankings, looked more organised than the hosts, ranked 192.
The tourists got the reward for their continued pressure, when Saad, while trying to clear the ball from the box, ended up kicking Louis on the head inside the D-box.
Saad was lucky to not see a direct red card for his offence as the referee showed him a yellow card and signaled a penalty for Seychelles.
Mancienne stepped up to take the penalty. He sent Anisur Rahman to the wrong way and sent the ball home with a grounded strike.
The hosts tried to equalise and were unlucky for not getting a hand-ball call against Seychelles in the final minutes.
But Bangladesh paid the price for their lacklustre performance for most of the match and had to leave the field with a defeat.