The 10-man Bangladesh Olympic (U-23) football team concluded their 13th South Asian Games campaign with bronze after losing to hosts Nepal 1-0 in the last match of the round-robin league at Dasharath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu on Sunday.
With two defeats, one draw and one win, Bangladesh finished the five-team campaign at third like the 2016 SAG while reigning champions Nepal set up the gold-medal clash with Bhutan on Tuesday.
Jamie Day’s side began the must-win game with a disappointing note as they conceded an early goal in the 11th minute. Sunil Bal cheered the full-packed home crowd with a right-footed placing from six-yard box following a cutback of skipper Sujal Shrestha.
Playing their previous match just a day before, all Nepal needed to do was to maintain the lead while Bangladesh piled pressure for the equalizer resulting six corners in the first half but their lack of the bites up front meant those bore no desired fruit.
Bangladesh almost conceded another in the 56th minute when Sunil’s effort missed the target narrowly, had a notable chance in the 61st minute when substitute winger Mohammad Ibrahim saw his effort went inches wide after being set up by Jamal Bhuiyan. The misery continued till the injury time when Jamal received red card in the injury time.
Despite having 16 players from the senior squad that fought bravely against the higher-ranked opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, Bangladesh failed to meet the expectations of winning the SA Games gold medal after nine years with poor performance throughout the competition.
