Ten men Bangladesh earn fighting draw against India

DHAKA - It was brave performance as ten men Bangladesh forced favorite India to play a 1-1 goal draw in their second match of SAFF 
Championship held today (Monday) at National Football Stadium in the 
Maldives.

   Indian clearly ahead than Bangladesh in terms of recent form or team's 
strength. However, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan was confident of winning 
the challenge against India after Bangladesh's confident 1-0 victory over Sri 
Lanka in their tournament opening match.

   Although Bangladesh were not 100 percent successful in that challenge, but 
with the ten men the boys in red and green fought neck to neck with the blue 
tigers and snatched a valuable point, despite falling behind star footballer 
Sunil Chhetri's goal in the first half.

   India however dominated the pitch throughout the first half. They were at 
least 65 percent of the time of ball for possession. During this time they 
made four shots along the target where Bangladesh had only one on-target 
shot.

   The first scoring opportunity of the match came in front of Bangladesh 
early in the sixth minute. Left back Yasin Arafat took a long range shot 
utilizing a pass from Jamal, but it went out of play with left side bar. 
Bangladesh even failed to utilize the opportunity from the corner in the 21st 
minute.

   Bangladesh also came close of scoring in the 25th minute when skipper 
Jamal Bhuyan, standing at the D-box, took a right footed shot off a cross 
from Biplo Ahmed but it also missed the target. 

   India however found the net in the 26th minute. Udanta Singh with a good 
run on the right and he found his captain Sunil Chhetri in the middle. 
Chhetri made no mistakes to send the ball home with a perfect right footed 
placing shot from close range.

  Bangladesh had a chance to level the margin just before the break but 
Biplo, despite standing at the vantage position, failed to utilize the 
scoring opportunity off a pass from Saad Uddin.

   After resumption, Bangladesh desperately tried to stage a fight back in 
the match by creating number of scoring opportunities, but failed to convert 
any lack of proper finishing. 

   Bangladesh were reduced to ten men in the 53rd minute as defender 
Biswasnath Ghosh got marching order by the referee for his unsporting 
behavior during the match.
  
   Yeasin Arafat finally brought Bangladesh in the match in the 73rd minute. 
Jamal Bhuyan floated a corner from the left side and Yeasin, who was 
unmarked, sent the ball to the net with a diving header from the close range.

   After an equal 1-1 goal margin, the blue tigers became desperate to take 
the lead again but none of their efforts paid off. Bangladesh also went 
attacks with the ball several times in the dying moment but could not convert 
any lack of proper finishing and they had to be satisfied with the draw.

  Yeasin Arafat, the hero of the day's match, was given the man of the match 
award for his impressive performance in the match.

   With the day's outcome, Bangladesh secured four points from two matches 
while India collected one point from one outing. 

   The boys in red and green will play their third match of the tournament 
against hosts Maldives on October 7 before facing Nepal in last match of the 
championship on October 13. 

   Squads: Bangladesh - Yeasin, Topu, Jamal, Biplo, Matin, Biswanath, Anisur, 
Tariq, Ibrahim, Rakib and Saad. India - Gurpreet, Rahul, Subashish, Konsham, 
Anirudh, Martins, Manvir, Chhetri, Udanta, Liston and Pritam.BSS