Bangladesh produced a rearguard action in the second half to come out with an unshameful 5-0 defeat at the hands of mighty Asian champions Australia in the 2018 Fifa World Cup second round qualifier at NIB Stadium in Perth yesterday.
Having shipped four goals in the first half, the Bengal Tigers were determined to avoid a cricket score in the second half and were successful as Sheikh Jamal DC goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel put in an impressive shift, denying the opponent attackers on numerous occasions.
In front of a capacity crowd of 19,495, the Socceroos got off to the perfect start as QPR midfielder Massimo Luongo distributed a fine pass towards the path of Ingolstadt forward Methew Leckie. All Leckie had to do was tap in to give the home side the lead in the fifth minute.
Two minutes later, Luongo provided his second assist of the game when he laid a beautiful pass for Celtic striker Tom Rogic and the forward made no mistake rifling home from outside the box to double the home side’s lead.
Rogic bagged his second, and Australia’s third, in the 19th minute when he unleashed a fierce shot that deflected off right-back Tapu Barman before sailing past Sohel.
Rogic nearly completed his hat-trick but Sohel denied him in the 28th minute, only for winger Nathan Burns to latch on to the rebound and steer home to make it 4-0.
In the meantime, the tourists were struggling to enter the opposition terrain. By the 37th minute of the tie, interim captain and defensive midfielder Mark Milligan and midfielder Aaron Mooy had exchanged 110 passes between them. During the same duration, the entire Bangladesh starting XI managed 71.
With the ticking of the clock, Bangladesh’s fortunes seemed to be on the decline. Young midfielder Hemanta Vincent Biswas and left-back Nasirul Islam Nasir broke down in the first half and were replaced by midfielder Monayem Khan Raju and centre-back Yeamin Munna respectively.
Australia did not get their first corner before the 41st minute but it was only because they were orchestrating most of their attacks down the middle of the park.
Milligan set up Mooy for the fifth goal at the hour-mark. Receiving a pass from Milligan, Mooy braced himself and let go a scorcher from the edge of the box to complete the scoreline.
Veteran striker Tim Cahill, who plays his football these days in China with Shanghai Shenhua, was surprisingly left out from the starting XI and only entered the fray in the 62nd minute in place of Leckie. The Bangladesh defenders held their illustrious opponents at bay for the remainder of the game.
The Bengal Tigers, who dropped three places to 173rd in the official world rankings after the game, will now turn their attention to Jordan, whom they host at Bangabandhu National Stadium this Tuesday at 5pm. Australia remained at their previous position of 61st.
