Md Anwar Ullah, Dhaka:A couple of classy strikes from Nabib Newaz Jibon and Mahbubur Rahman Shufil gave host Bangladesh 2-0 friendly win over Nepal in the Mujib Borsho FIFA International Football series 2020 in the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Nabib Newaz Jibon’s classy first-half strike gave host Bangladesh a narrow 1-0 friendly win over Nepal in the Mujib Borsho FIFA International Football series 2020 in the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Both the host and the visitors looked a bit disorganized, as after long hiatus due to Covid-19 pandemic which played spoilsports in competitive football.
It was a decent start when Jamie’s side showing plenty of enthusiasm and energy right from the early stages and should have opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Jamal shimmied inside the area before setting up Jibon, but he (Jibon) failed to set the ball properly, as he drove wide off the target.
However, the moment of magic came three minutes later which gave the Bangladesh the lead, after the first missing trial Jibon crisply sliding Saad’s cross from the right powerfully past Nepalese keeper Kiran Kumar.
It was a sharp move in the 10th minute with Jibon reacted quickly to knock Saad’s pinpointed cross into net with a superb sliding from penalty box, with Nepalese goalkeeper nothing to do but watching the ball hit the net (1-0).
Apart from Bangladesh team scoring on 10th minute, there were a couple occasions for them came to increase the advantage but Ibrahim or Tapu Barman could not contact well on a long throw-in from Biswnath.
The visitors also went closer for twice to threat for having equalizer but failed to make good finish when most of their efforts were very weak and Bangladesh defenders also dealt well before turned into danger.
Jamie’s side doubled their lead with a goal of stunning quality from Mahbubur Rahman Shufil when Bangladesh went up a gear in the second half.
Sohel Rana, substitute of Manik, pulled the strings in midfield and it was a superb solo run from another substitute Shufil. The midfielder after receiving the ball dodged past two of his markers and finally shot past Nepal goalkeeper in the 80th minute (2-0).
Might be it was a wakeup call for Bangladesh team ahead of their FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying match against Qatar in Doha on December 4 when the Red and Greens looked very much disorganized and suffered lack of stamina.
