Bangladesh knocked out of Four Nations tournament after conceding late penalty against Sri Lanka
Bangladesh needed a draw against Sri Lanka to reach the final played defensive football from the very beginning and that backfired to concede an early goal.
A double strike by Waseem Razeek guided hosts, Sri Lanka, to the final of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Four Nations International Football Tournament shocking Bangladesh by 2-1 goals in the last league match at the Racecourse ground in Colombo on Tuesday.
They will now play the final on Friday (Nov 19) against the African nation Seychelles, which booked its final berth after playing out a goalless draw with the Maldives at the same venue Tuesday afternoon.
Striker Ahmed Waseem Razzek, who scored a hattrick scoring fours goals against the Maldives in the tournament's opener, scored both the goals for hosts Sri Lanka, one in each half.
He put Sri Lanka ahead in the 25th minute of the match by a rebounder from top of the small box when a long-distance shot of his team-mate came his way slipped from the grip of Bangladesh custodian Anisur Rahman Zico (1-0).
Bangladesh needed a draw against Sri Lanka to reach the final played defensive football from the very beginning and that backfired to concede an early goal.
But in the 2nd half, Bangladesh dominated the match all through when the Lankans were found to busy Bangladesh attack one after another and its fruit in the 70th minute.
Substitute striker Jewel Rana levelled margin for Bangladesh by an accurate placing ground shot from goalmouth melee denying opponent defender and custodian (1-1).
When the game was almost heading for a 1-1 draw to assure the final berth for Bangladesh, the referee gave a controversial penalty in favour of the home team and striker Waseem Razeek did no mistake to convert a spot-kick in the 90th minute guiding Sri Lanka to the final.
With the day's feat, Waseem Razeek emerged as the leading scorer in the meet scoring six individual goals.
Earlier, Susanto Tripura and Topu Barman of Bangladesh spoiled two easy chances.
Earlier, Bangladesh started their campaign in the Sri Lankan four nations football with a frustrating note after playing 1-1 draw with African side Seychelles despite dominating the match by 1-0 goal till 87th minute last Wednesday.
Bangladesh smartly bounced back in the final race beating stronger Maldives after 18 years by 2-1 goals in their 2nd match last Saturday at the same venue.
Earlier in the tournament opener last Tuesday, coming from behind, hosts Sri Lanka played to a 4-4 draw with their neighbour the Maldives while Seychelles beat hosts Sri Lanka by 1-0 goal in another match on Saturday.
Bangladesh team (Starting Eleven) Anisur Rahman Zico Topu Barman, Rahmat Mia, Susanto Tripura, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Mohammad Redoy, Jamal Bhuiyan, Rakib Hossain, Atiqur Rahman Fahad, Mohammad Ibrahim and Sumon Reza.
