A brave Bangladesh produced yet another dominating display against higher-ranked Afghanistan as the second of the two-match FIFA friendly series ended 1-1 at Kings Arena in the capital Thursday.
Youngster Sheikh Morsalin scored to help the home side come from behind after Afghan forward Jabar Sharza put the visitors ahead early in the second half.
It was the men in red and green who replicated their performance from the previous match which, despite ending in a goalless draw, was largely controlled by the Bengal Tigers.
Javier Cabrera kept the starting XI unchanged while Afghanistan’s Kuwaiti coach Abdullah Almutairi made four changes, including bringing in Sharza.
The visitors seemed more aggressive on and off the ball at the beginning but the hosts kept calm and did not allow the opponents to enter the danger zone.
The clash on the pitch spread to the dugout which saw Nepalese referee Prajwol Chhetri show the red card to Afghanistan coach Almutairi in the 19th minute.
Rakib Hossain went close to scoring in the 40th minute after Mohammad Sohel Rana fed him with a lob but the forward shot straight to the goalkeeper from the right side of the box.
Jamal Bhuiyan, who continued to play as attacking midfielder, had an opportunity in the 45th minute following Sohel Rana’s corner but the effort was blocked at goal-mouth.
Sharza gave Afghanistan the breakthrough seven minutes into the second half as the striker headed on a corner from Omid Popalzay.
Morsalin brought parity just after the hour mark with a tap-in after Bishwanath Ghosh laid down a cross on his path from the right side.
Bangladesh made an appeal for a penalty five minutes later when Jamal’s shot touched the left hand of an Afghan player inside the box but the referee was not convinced.
Afghanistan keeper Faisal Hamidi produced a diving save to deny Topu Barman’s header soon after Bishwanath saw his header on a Jamal corner cleared for a corner in the last 10 minutes.
Bangladesh can take inspiration from their performance in the two matches before facing Maldives home and away in the World Cup and Asian Cup joint pre-qualifiers next month.
RESULT
Bangladesh 1 (Morsalin 62) Afghanistan 1 (Jabar 52)
Playing Xl
Bangladesh: Anisur Rahman Zico; Isa Faysal (Saad Uddin 46), Topu Barman, Tariq Raihan Kazi, Bishwanath Ghosh; Mohammad Ridoy (Foysal Ahmed Fahim 81), Mohammad Sohel Rana, Sohel Rana, Jamal Bhuiyan (Mohammad Ibrahim 90); Rakib Hossain, Sheikh Morsalin (Mojibor Rahman Jony 90+5)
Afghanistan: Ahmad Hamidi; Mahboob Hanifi, Farzad Ataie, Taufee Skandari, Mustafa Azadzoy, Farshad Noor, Faysal Shayesteh, Zelfagar Nazari, Omid Popalzay, Mosawer Ahadi, Jabar Sharza
