Bangladesh ends Asian Games with goalless draw against Myanmar

Bangladesh women’s football team has ended the Asian Games by at least keeping their own net intact in the last match. The team of Sabina Khatun has stopped strong Myanmar with a goalless draw in the last match of Group ‘F’.

Bangladesh has got 1 point from the match held at Nagai Stadium of Japan on Monday (September 21). At the same time the representatives of red-green have ended their campaign in the Asian Games through this draw.

Bangladesh’s start in Group ‘F’ had been with a big shock. The team lost by 10-0 goals to North Korea in the first match itself. This is the record of Bangladesh’s biggest margin of defeat in women’s international football. After that the same picture in the second match against South Korea also. Bangladesh lost by 6-0 goals in that match three days later.

Bangladesh that had conceded 16 goals in the first two matches took the field against Myanmar with the aim of turning around. There was also a slim possibility of rising to the quarter-final if a win was obtained in the calculation of the equation. Although the win did not come in the end Bangladesh has at least been able to avoid the defeat.

Myanmar was aggressive from the beginning of the match. They took two consecutive shots in the second minute itself. Bangladesh’s goalkeeper stopped one of them with great skill. Bangladesh’s defence stopped another attempt of Myanmar in the 20th minute.

However Bangladesh had also created opportunities in the counter-attack. Bangladesh did not get the sight of a goal as the free-kick of Afeida Khandakar in the 19th minute and the shot of Rituparna Chakma in the 40th minute went off target.

After the goalless first half both teams continued the fight in attack and counter-attack in the second half also. Myanmar increased the pressure for the winning goal in the last part of the match. They made several attacks between the 77th and 78th minutes. They also extracted multiple corners. However Myanmar did not get a goal in the end due to the firmness of Bangladesh’s goalkeeper and defence.

Bangladesh also continued the attempt till the end. The strong shot of Rituparna in the 86th minute came back after hitting the body of the opponent’s player. After that Bangladesh fell into offside from the return attack.

As no more goal was scored till the final whistle the match ended in a goalless draw. Leaving the field by keeping their own net intact against Myanmar after conceding 16 goals in consecutive two matches is somewhat a relief for the girls of Bangladesh.