Bangladesh hold Indonesia to a draw after 37 years

Bangladesh national football team had a good preparation for the upcoming Asian Cup Qualifiers when a depleted side played out a goalless draw against Indonesia in a FIFA friendly in Bandung, Indonesia tonight.

The last time Bangladesh were able to draw against Indonesia was in April, 1985, where the game had ended 1-1. However goalless this time, the stalemate, second in a row under Javier Cabrera, will certainly boost the confidence of the men in red and green as they fly out of Jakarta tomorrow for Kuala Lumpur for the Qualifiers, involving hosts Malaysia, Bahrain and Turkmenistan, scheduled to get underway on June 8.

With some key players unavailable due to the injury and suspension, it was a tough job for Cabrera to pick the right combination. The Spanish coach apparently emphasised on his defence in the selection by deploying two defensive midfielders – Jamal Bhuiyan and Atiqur Rahman Fahad – ahead of four-man backline, marshalled by makeshift backline of Bishwanath Ghosh, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Yeasin Arafan at left-back and Rimon Hossain at right-back.

From the onset of the game, the defence had looked vulnerable and the two full-backs were exposed time and again before the full backline virtually collapsed in the last half hour in the face of huge pressure from Indonesia, who are ranked 29 places above Bangladesh, ranked 188.

However, Bangladesh were relieved to not have conceded the lead, courtesy of a few good saves from goalkeeper Ansiur Rahman Zico and the failure of the hosts forwards contributed to the cause.

However, the host did find the back of the net in the 73rd minute but the goal did not stand and was ruled out for off-side.

The charges of Cabrera pressed the opponents just behind the center-line and attempted to capitalise on the counter. The visitors ended up being unable to launch the crisp counter attacks or feed through balls to debutant forward Sazzad Hossain during the transitions as the midfielder were prone to errors and seemingly played without purpose.

Indonesia got off to a fine start from the beginning and created three good chances in the first 20 minutes but keeper Zico denied Muhammad Rufli, Saddil Ramdani and Stefano Jantje Lilipaly in those attempts while Bangladesh had to wait until the 25th minute to muster their first shot on target. However, that shot, a feeble drive from Rakib, did little to trouble Indonesia goalkeeper.

Rakib then delivered a nice cut-back for Jamal Bhuiyan, who saw his low drive on the edge of the box well blocked by an Indonesian striker.

Indonesia kept mounting to break the deadlock and came close to taking the lead right after the interval, in the first minute into the second half. Lucky for Bangladesh though, Rimon Hossain was there to intercept the pass to unmarked Irfan Jaya inside the box while Stefano headed narrowly wide over the crosspiece in the 66th minute, much to Zico's relief.

Cabrera introduced a couple of fresh legs with Faisal Ahmed Fahim and Sohel Rana replacing Rakib Hossain and Fahad respectively. Fahim threatened the home side with his pace while Sohel drove a left-footer only to be gripped by Indonesia goalkeeper Nadeo Arga.

Indonesia almost killed off the match in the stoppage time when substitute Muhammad Dimas Drajao's header had goalkeeper Zico beaten but it was off target. In the end, Bangladesh left the ground with heads held high.