Firebrand Cabrera wants more victories

What a difference a victory can make! Those who were shouting slogans against the Bangladesh team on Wednesday night following the team's 1-0 defeat against the Maldives, were chanting for the victorious hosts after a comeback 2-1 win against the same opposition last night.

The Bangladesh Football Ultras cheered on the team right through the match and serenaded them on their way out of the Bashundhara Kings Stadium, where Javier Cabrera's charges had just snatched a deserved victory in stoppage time, thanks to a late goal from substitute midfielder Papon Singh.

PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

The Abahani midfielder had replaced captain Sohel Rana in the 89th minute and was at the right place at the right time, five minutes later, to stab home substitute Shahrear Emon's low cross into the net.

The goal lifted the morale of the team which had lost the first match against the same opposition 1-0 and were looking at a bleak end to the calendar year with six defeats in seven matches prior to this game.

The win also changed the mood of the coach considerably. Cabrera, who had appeared resigned after the defeat on Wednesday, was all gung-ho in the post-match press conference, taking on journalists who had criticised his team after Wednesday's defeat.

PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

"We played better football in the first match. We played with the same approach, the same energy and the same attitude in the first game. We created more chances that game," Cabrera said. "The problem is that you just live to criticise this team."

While it is true that Bangladesh had mounted more attacks in the first game, there could be debate as to how effective those were as the two forwards, Rakib Hossain and Faysal Ahmed Fahim, failed to make those attacks count.

Instead it was the midfielders – Mojibur Rahman Johny and Papon that made the difference yesterday.

Johny, who had scored his first international goal a year-and-a-half ago in a FIFA friendly against Cambodia, brought the home side back into the game with a brilliant equaliser in the 43rd minute.

The Bashundhara Kings midfielder received the ball from Sheikh Morsalin in front of the box, switched to right foot and unleashed a curling effort through a host of Maldives players and into the far corner of the net.

The goal came as a shot in the arm for Cabrera's men who had conceded the opening goal in the 23rd minute, when veteran defender Topu Barman's miscued pass was slotted in clinically by Ali Fasir, the Maldives forward who had scored the only goal of the previous game.

PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

"I believe we deserved to win the first game also," Cabrera opined, who felt they should have won two more matches this year. The Spaniard, whose contract as Bangladesh coach runs out in December, said he is looking to discuss the matter with the Bangladesh Football Federation, but is happy with the pool of players at his disposal, and is excited over the impending addition of Hamza Choudhury for March's Asian Cup Qualifiers.