Home ›› 07 Aug 2022 ›› Sport
It was heartbreak for the Bangladesh Under-20 national football team on Friday as they failed to wash away their 2019 sorrows as they were yet again bettered by an Indian side in the U20 SAFF Championship 2022 final as they were beaten 5-2 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India.
A tumultuous 10 minutes after the full 90 saw Bangladesh spiral down after the contest ended at 2-2 at full time. Then, Paul Smalley’s boys lost the plot and conceded three goals within the first 10 minutes of extra-time.
Bangladesh suffered a narrow defeat in the previous edition’s final as they were beaten 2-1 by India.
In Friday’s final, Indian striker Gurkirat Singh produced a monstrous performance, scoring four goals, two of which came in that fateful first 10 minutes of extra-time.
Gurkirat finished the tournament as the top scorer with nine goals and took home the Most Valuable Player award.
Besides the striker’s four goals, forward Himanshu Jangra chipped in with one.
For Bangladesh, midfielder Rajon Howladar and defender Shahin Mia found the net with two supreme finishes.
It was an eventful evening on Friday, which saw two adept sides going at each other for the ultimate glory. In an end-to-end contest, India took the lead in the opening minute of the game, courtesy of a penalty conceded by Bangladesh goalkeeper Mohammad Asif, which Gurkirat successfully converted.
The boys in red and green responded just at the stroke of half-time as Rajon drove a thumping right-footed strike from 30 yards to level the score.
Bangladesh doubled the score soon after the restart as defender Shahin Mia controlled the ball with his chest expertly before producing a pinpoint finish into the top corner to make it 2-1.
But the celebrations were cut short as India managed to find an equaliser just 12 minutes later. Striker Gurkirat netted his second with a piledriver of a finish as he thumped it into the bottom corner, evading the outstretched arms of Asif.
Goalkeeper Asif more than made up for his blunder and produced some remarkable saves in the dying minutes of the game to take the contest to extra time.
But the start of extra time saw all hell break lose as India got themselves into a goal-scoring frenzy, netting three goals in 10 minutes to shatter all hopes of Bangladesh clinching the title.
It was heartbreak for the Bangladeshi players as some of them broke down into tears as they applauded their home fans, who came into the stadium.
Young forward Mirajul Islam went down on his knees in tears as he apologised to the fans for the loss.
The champions gave Bangladesh a guard of honour in the presentation ceremony before lifting consecutive titles as they equalled Nepal’s tally to two titles.
