Supersub Saad saves Bangladesh’s blushes

Substitute Saad Uddin scored with his first touch to help Bangladesh salvage a 1-1 draw against Maldives in their away match of the preliminary round of the World Cup Qualifiers at Male National Stadium today.

Saad, who came off the bench to replace Bishwanath Ghosh in the 89th minute, placed home from close range in the second minute of stoppage time following a low cross from Rakib Hossain to earn a point for the men in red and green. The full was soon booked for taking off his shirt as the whole of the team, including the players and officials at the dugout, celebrated the equalise wildly.

Bangladesh will host Maldives at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on October 17 in the reverse fixture, with the aggregate winners slated to qualify for the group stage of the qualifiers. A draw in that game will take it to tiebreakers to decide the winners.

"It feels really good because Maldives are a very strong team at their own backyard. Whenever we came here, they played well with a good attacking line-up. Today they got many chances and we also created many chances. It was a 50-50 game with both sides displaying good football. At least, we drew the match, which is why we feel good as all of our players, including the three new players, played well," forward Rakib Hossain said at the post-match press conference.

Both sides squandered a lot of scoring chances before Maldives capitalised on a miscued clearance from defender Tariq Kazi in the 78th minute to take the lead. However, Javier Cabrera's charges hit back in stoppage time to deny Maldives, who beat Bangladesh three times in the last seven years on their home soil.

For the first 20 minutes or so, both sides played cautiously, with Maldives looking too quick on the break or in transition. Bangladesh were lucky not to concede the lead in the 18th minute when Ali Fasir rattled the near post from a counter-attack.

Afterwards Bangladesh, despite erratic passing and loss of possession, created a couple of good chances but neither Rakib nor Faisal Ahmed Fahim found the target.

Rakib narrowly missed the far post from a counter-attack after the break and then set up Fahim inside the box but the young winger struck the side netting from close range.

Fahim off target once again while substitute Rabiul Islam was denied by the Maldives goalkeeper before debutant left-back Shakil Ahmed rescued Bangladesh by clearing an open chance. Debutant goalkeeper Mitul Marma then denied Fasir from a one-on-one situation.

As the match seemed headed for a goalless draw, Bangladesh conceded the lead with substitute Hassan Nazeem tapping in from close range after Tariq's clearance came his way off the body of Shakil. Fasir then wasted another glorious chance in the 89th minute with only Bangladesh goalkeeper to beat.

Bangladesh coach Jaiver Cabrera was happy with the performance despite missing some of his key players due on disciplinary ground.

"We have to win the home match and it is going to be the same. If we lost here or drew here, we had to win the home match. Even if we won the match today, we would have definitely gone to the home match for the win," said Cabrera.