Captain Yeasin Arafat could not hold his tears after his unexpected red card reduced Bangladesh U-18 national team to nine men before during the Saff final against India but the highly-rated young defender promised to be more careful in future after the team returned home Monday afternoon.
Arafat, who can play both as center-back and left-back, received a second yellow card after lifting his jersey and covering his head to celebrate Bangladesh’s equalizer in the 39th minute.
“It was a massive mistake. I was crying a lot in the dressing room. But what has happened is past now. I didn’t know that it was offensive to lift jersey and cover head with it. Now I need to take lesson from it because there will be more moments like this in future. I have to be more careful.”
Bangladesh suffered another agonizing heartbreak against India in a final as they lost in the grand finale of the Saff U-18 after an injury time goal in Kathmandu but their British coach Andrew Turner hailed the young booters for their valiant show.https://t.co/II5O2ohiAe#BFF
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 29, 2019
“The coach (Andrew Turner) told me after the game, ‘you are the captain of the team so you have to keep your head cool. It’s a lesson you have to learn because there will be more such moments to come in future.” The Saif Sporting Club youngster added.
Despite having the numerical disadvantage against a strong Indian outfits, Bangladesh boys fought valiantly till the end before conceding a very late goal in the injury time. “My teammates played really well despite with nine men. We could have won the game but I felt worse after the extra-time goal.”
Arafat made his youth team debut with the national U-12 team during the Mokh Cup in Malaysia in 2015. Since then he played for U-14, U-15, U-16, U-18 and U-23 team in different competitions before being called up for the senior side for the first time for 2022 World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan last month.
The 17-year-old has a buy-out clause of 2,000,00US$ at his club where his contract will end in 2021. Arafat was scheduled to join the national team training camp Monday night.
