Late defensive lapses creeping in again

Conceding late goals has long been an issue for Bangladesh national team and a fresh reminder of that was served on Thursday against Lebanon in their opening SAFF championship encounter.

Despite putting up poor performances in recent past, Bangladesh showed a bit of improvement and created the hope of holding their superior Lebanon but defensive errors from Tariq Kazi and debutant Isa Faisal caused the downfall of the team.

Under the guidance of Javier Cabrera in Asian Cup Qualifiers in Malaysia last year, Bangladesh had fought back from a goal down to draw level through a goal from Mohammad Ibrahim and they were headed for a draw but a similar mistake saw them concede a decisive second goal in the 77th minute.

Similar defensive lapses denied Bangladesh a chance of playing in the finals of 2021 SAFF Championship and the four-nation Mahinda Rajapaksa Gold Cup in Sri Lanka.

In the last match of Rajapaksa Gold Cup, Bangladesh needed a draw against hosts Sri Lanka, who initially took the lead before Jewel Rana brought Bangladesh back into the match with a 71st-minute strike. The charges of Mario Lemos seemed on course for the play the final but Saad Uddin handled the ball inside the box in the stoppage to give away a penalty, which Wassem Razzak converted to deny Bangladesh of a final berth.

In Male, the men in red and green needed a win over Nepal for a final place after 16 years. The charges of Oscar Bruzon seemed going on the right direction after taking a lead through Suman Reza but then Saad Uddin pushed a Nepaleae forward to gift a penalty and Bangladesh's dreams were shattered.

Things had improved a bit after Dutch coach Lodewijk De Kruif took charge in 2013 but Kruif's ad-hoc basis work with the national side followed by the guidance from several local and overseas head coaches could not completely heal the team's finish-line anxiety.

Australian coach Adrew Ord and English coach Jamie Day also prioritised on keeping a compact defence above all else and the rate of conceding goals in the dying minutes had seemingly reduced.

"I think it is an issue of lack of concentration rather than any technical issue. We overcame this problem a bit previously but it is happening again. I think we have to concentrate more in such situations," defender Tapu Barman told The Daily Star before Friday's training session.

Assistant coach and former national defender Hasan Al Mamun, however, has no explanation of such defensive fumbles.

"I think they were casual at that time and made mistakes. You have nothing to say if our best defender Tariq makes such fumbles," Hasan said.