Palestine hand Bangladesh big defeat in WC qualifier

Bangladesh put up a better show than their tie against Lebanon but yet suffered a 5-0 defeat to a spirited Palestine in their World Cup Qualifying match at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait City, Kuwait on Thursday.

Belgium-based forward Oday Dabbagh struck a hattrick while Shaheb Qunbar, who was the top scorer of Palestine league for two successive years, struck a brace for Palestine, who are ranked 97th in FIFA ranking.  

Spanish coach Javier Cabrera brought slight positional changes for players like Bishwanath Ghosh, Jamal Bhuiyan, Md Sohel Rana, in a bid to spoil the Palestine wing play. The men in red and green went toe to toe from the outset rather than only sitting back to defend in the fast-paced game under lights.

Bangladesh strung together numerous accurate passes to build up a couple of good attacks in the first half but the forwards could not capitalise on those opportunities. The charges of Cabrera also chased the ball whenever they lost it and the continuous pressing almost frustrated Palestine until they dazzled at the latter part of the first half.

Palestine, who are technically, physically and tactically superior, eased off the Bangladeshi pressure, scoring two late goals in the first-half before adding three more in the second half. The win saw Palestine notch up their biggest-margin triumph over Bangladesh.

After the first half, Bangladesh were under tremendous pressure to concede two goals within seven minutes and survived a few more scares. Although goalkeeper Mitul Marma made a string of saves, Bangladesh failed to carry their spirited from the first-half in to the second half.

Bangladesh were the first to attack when Rakib Hossain darted into the box in the seventh minute from the left flank and cut it back for Faisal Ahmed Fahim, but the chance wobbled away.

In the 11th minute, Mitul Marma denied Oday Dabbagh in a one-on-one situation before Rakib hit the side netting in the 15th minute. Bangladesh created two further opportunities but forward Fahim and midfielder Sohel Rana Jr were off their target.

Palestine tried to expose the Bangladesh backline with long balls but the Bangladeshi backline negotiated it well before a nice build-up from the right-flank saw Bangladesh concede the first goal with Oday hammering a rebounded shot home in the 43rd minute while Shehab took his chance to steal the ball from Bangladeshi defenders to make it 2-0 with a close-range shot in the stoppage time of the first half.

After resumption, it was again Shehad who made it 3-0 in the 49th minute before Oday widened the margin with a left-footed shot in the 52d minute and completed his hattrick in the 76th minute in his second attempt after Mitul denied the first attempt.