Bangladesh clinch WC Qualifiers spot

Shrugging off late pressure, 10-man Bangladesh defeated Maldives 2-1 in the second leg of the preliminary round to move into the World Cup Qualifiers with a 3-2 aggregate win at the Bashundhara Kings Arena yesterday.

Forwards Rakib Hossain and Faisal Ahmed Fahim scored one goal apiece either side of Maldives' equaliser from Aisam Ibrahim to ensure a place in Group I, which also features Australia, Palestine and Lebanon.

The win ensures six home-and-away matches in the group stage of qualifiers for the men in red and green, with their first match against Australia scheduled for November 16 in Melbourne.

Bangladesh came into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw in Male last week, knowing that a defeat would force them out of competitive international football for one year. Javier Cabrera's charges did not disappoint the 7000-strong crowd at the Kings Arena where they had previously played out two draws against Afghanistan last month.

Maldives started brilliantly and controlled the game for the first 10 minutes before Bangladesh took control of the match and broke the deadlock against the run of the play in the 11th minute.

Saad Uddin, who replaced Isa Faisal in the starting eleven, released a powerful through-pass that seemed headed for the touchline but Fahim ran superbly down the left flank to cut it back for Rakib, who calmly placed home to send the crowd in rapture.

The men in red and green created three more chances but Rakib and Fahim were denied by goalkeeper Hussain Shareef before the former rattled the crossbar.

Mitul Marma made a brilliant save at the other end to thwart a powerful shot from Hamza Mohamed but the young goalkeeper was helpless in the 36th minute as Aisam headed home when a corner from Hamza came his way following a deflection from Fahim.

Fahim, however, made amends and restored Bangladesh's lead in the first minute of the second half with a powerful drive from inside the box after Saad whipped in a cross from the left side.

Bangladesh received a huge blow on the hour-mark when Mohammad Sohel Rana received a second yellow card following a needless foul on an opposition player inside the opposition half.

However, Bangladesh showed tremendous character in the 30-odd remaining minutes and left the ground with a memorable victory over the island nation.