10-man Bangladesh earn point vs India

Bangladesh staged a heroic comeback in the SAFF Championship on Monday as they equalized with 10-man to draw 1-1 against India.

Sunil Chhetri brought India the lead in the 26th minute, and when Bishwanath Ghosh saw a straight red card for a professional last-man foul, all seemed lost for Oscar Bruzon’s men.

But 18-year-old left-back Yeasin Arafat emerged as the hero of the hour as he scored in the 74th minute to bring Bangladesh level with a man short. And a valiant defensive effort in the final 20 minutes ensured that the red and greens managed to keep it at a stalemate until the final whistle.

Bangladesh head coach Bruzon brought a couple of changes to the XI from the previous match as Suman Reza and Jewel Rana made way for Saad Uddin and Md Matin Miah.

India started the game in the driving seat as they dominated the first 15 minutes but failed to make inroads in the Bangladesh defence. Despite their control, Bangladesh had the first big chance as Saad’s header went wide in the 26th minute.

From that goal kick, India knit together a brilliant attack through the left wing and Udanta Singh’s cutback found Chhetri, poorly marked by Topu Barman, in space and the Indian skipper did not make any mistake to bring his side the lead. It was Chhetri’s sixth goal against Bangladesh in six matches.

Chhetri almost doubled his tally for the match, but Bangladesh goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico produced a fantastic save to deny him. From that corner, Bangladesh put together a brilliant counterattack, which saw Biplo with the goal at his mercy. But the midfielder hit it straight at India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as Bangladesh ended the half behind by a goal.

Seven minutes into the second half, Bangladesh had another great chance to equalize as Saad’s brilliant cut-back found Rakib Hossain free in the box with an open net. But the winger shot it wide, leaving Bangladesh in agony.

A couple of minutes later, a callous Bishwanath gave the ball away to India’s Liston Colaco and then, fouled him which led to a straight red card, reducing Bangladesh to 10-man.

And three minutes later, Zico came to Bangladesh’s rescue as he pulled off a double-save to keep the score to 1-0.

Bangladesh finally found the equalizer in the 74th minute. Skipper Jamal Bhuyan’s floated corner was flicked on by Rakib and found Yeasin Arafat, free at the back post, who knocked in the header to bring Bangladesh back in the game.

In the 85th minute, Manvir Singh almost grabbed the winner when he found space in the Bangladesh box. But a brilliant block from Topu saved a definite winner for India as Bangladesh managed to hold for the final 20 minutes to earn a point from the match.

After the match, Bangladesh skipper Jamal wrote on Twitter that he was disappointed with just a point.

“Disappointed with only 1 point today against India even though we played with 10 men most of the 2nd half. Great chances to score. Good performance by the boys but we need to score on our chances,” he wrote.