AFC U-23 Olympic Qualifiers: Bangladesh hold India for a boring 0-0 draw

India U23 ends their campaign with a draw

India and Bangladesh played out a dull 0-0 draw at the Bangabandhu Stadium, Dhaka. It was the penultimate match of the group stages and both the teams’ have crashed out of the qualifying stage, bagging just one point. Stephen Constantine made two changes in the starting lineup as Sumit Passi replaced Vineeth Rai and Sandesh Jhingan replaced Shankar Sampingiraj, who was sent off in the previous game.

The Indians looked stronger on paper and were expected to end this disappointing campaign on a high note. They attacked more in the first half dominated proceedings. Germanpreet Singh came close to scoring in the earlier stages. He attempted a long-range shot, but it went wide.

Moments later, Siam Hangal unleashed another shot from quite a distance, but it went wide again. Indians were looking positive in their approach.

At half hour mark, Holicharan Narzary got an opportunity to score after a defensive lapse among the Bangladeshis. Thankfully, Nurul Faisal came to rescue and somehow managed to stop the Indian striker from scoring the opening goal of the match.

India went into the half time with better chances created and a much superior ball possession.

It took almost an hour for the second half to resume as the lights at the stadium went off. After 55 minutes of delay, the second half proceeded.

Siam Hangal attempted a long range shot just as the second half began. Unfortunately, the ball went wide as most of his previous shots did throughout the match. Indians were dominating from the very first minute of the second half.

Stephen Constantine replaced Holicharan Narzary with Vineeth Rai in the 65th minute in the hope of getting a positive outcome.

However, the match eventually ended goalless as the teams played out a boring 0-0 draw. Indians yet again displayed a disappointing performance and bowed out of the AFC U23 Championship qualifier with just a single point.

The only highlight of this game was the 55-minute long stoppage due to a power cut in the stadium, which, after all, is not really the highlight you would look out for in a football match.