Bangladesh play out goalless draw against Nepal in friendly fixture

Bangladesh and Nepal played out an uneventful goalless draw in the first of two FIFA international friendly fixtures at the beleaguered Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu on Saturday.

The venue, which recently has been suspended from hosting international competitive matches, witnessed a placid affair between two friendly neighbours of South Asia in front of a sparse crowd.

Both teams had come into this match on the back of defeats in their Asian Cup Qualifiers in June – Bangladesh losing 2-1 at home against Singapore and Nepal getting beaten by Laos by the same margin.

These two matches, the next one scheduled for September 9, are supposed to be preparation for the October Qualifiers – home-and-away matches against Hong Kong for Bangladesh. However, there was very little intensity and purpose among the teams to eke out a victory.

Bangladesh were playing against Nepal for the first time since their 3-1 defeat at the same venue in another friendly three years ago. It was a much-improved performance, at least from the defence of Javier Cabrera, but the effort lacked urgency to go for the broke.

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Jamal Bhuyan, after sitting out the last match against Singapore in Dhaka back in June, was drafted into the playing XI as Cabrera had to make do with a number of absentees, including Hamza Choudhury and Shamit Shome as well as a few regular senior players who are currently involved with the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Vietnam.

Sujon Hossain took position between the sticks in place of Mutual Marma, who missed the match due to illness, but the Mohammedan goalkeeper was hardly tested. So too was Kiran Kumar Limbu, the Nepal captain and one of many Nepal national team players who will play in Bangladesh's domestic football in the upcoming season.

Cabrera used five of his substitutions in the second half as he brought on Shahriar Emon for Mohammad Ibrahim, Taaj Uddin for his brother Saad Uddin, Quazem Shah Kirmanee for Jamal Bhuyan, Arif Hossain for Sumon Reza and Mohammad Sohel Rana for Sohel Rana.

However, none of the substitutions were able to make an impact as the game meandered towards a dull stalemate.