It was another heartbreak for Bangladesh as they conceded two late goals and began their SAFF Championship campaign with a 2-0 loss to Lebanon in the Group B opener at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium yesterday.

Lebanon, the top-ranked team in the tournament, were clear favourites but Javier Cabrera's charges came close to repeating their heroics in 2011, when they defeated Lebanon 2-0 in the 2014 World Cup pre-qualifiers in Dhaka.

Young winger Faisal Ahmed Fahim squandered a one-on-one with the goalkeeper on the hour-mark before defenders Tariq Raihan Kazi and debutant Isa Faysal made two costly errors to shatter Bangladesh's dream of snatching a point from the Middle-Eastern nation, who are 93 places ahead of Bangladesh in the FIFA Rankings.

Cabrera pinned his hopes on the same eleven that he fielded during the two preparation matches against Tiffy Army FC and Cambodia, making only two changes in defence by integrating fit-again centre-back Tapu Barman and left-back Faysal.

Bangladesh initially struggled against their physically and technically superior opponents in front of largely empty stands as Ali Al Haj and Karim Darwich threatened within the first 20 minutes.

However, as the match progressed they played better compared to their performance against Cambodia. Jamal and Co attacked from the right flank, with one chance leading to Fahim darting into the box and seeing his low shot saved at the near post by goalkeeper Ali Sabeh.

After resumption, Lebanon sent on three pairs of fresh legs and put Bangladesh under huge pressure, but Anisur Rahman Zico held firm despite two close calls.

Bangladesh came close to breaking the deadlock in the 60th minute as Fahim raced into the box completely unchallenged, only to drive a low shot straight at Sabeh and waste the best chance of the match.

Old habits then came to the fore as Bangladesh's defenders made basic errors which cost them the game. Tariq's attempt to dribble out of pressure despite being the last defender cost the team dearly in the 80th minute, as Karim Darwich stole the ball and marched on goal before squaring it to Maatouk for a simple tap-in.

Bangladesh came close to equalising in stoppage time, but substitute Rafiqul Islam failed to capitalise on a cut-back from Rakib Hossain before Lebanon launched a counter-attack which sealed the match after Faysal's half-hearted attempt to clear the ball was pounced upon.