Bangladesh held an inconsistent Pakistan to a goalless draw here in the second home leg of the World Cup Qualifier under lights at the Punjab Stadium on Sunday night. Bangladesh, who had won the first leg match against Pakistan 3-0 at Dhaka on June 29, have now moved to the next round where they face Lebanon.
Contrary to the expectations, a good number of people thronged the stadium to watch the match. Despite the rain, the surrounding roads of the Punjab Stadium were full and a crowd of around 3000 people filled the stadium where security was high on alert. The Lahorites were happy to see an international match being played in Pakistan after a long time since the country has become a no go zone.
Even Bangladesh requested FIFA to move the match to a neutral venue but the successful organisation of the game proved the Bangladeshis concern misplaced and the PFF also thanked FIFA for reposing faith in them. Pakistan, requiring an aggregate win of 4-0, were firing inaccurately and must again be ruing the missed chances that came their way. It was another match with the same result — either a draw or a loss. It seemed the team is failing to gel into a proper combination and on occasion it visibly lacked in coordination otherwise some of their moves were brilliant albeit finishing was very poor.
Bangladesh played to their plan and on occasions were in defensive mode and now with a draw in the second match they eased their away and would go home happy. They played brilliantly in both the legs and were the worthy winners and all that can be said is best of luck to them against Lebanon in the next round. Pakistan started the game with aggression but their long-ball shots were erratic which Bangladesh were than happy to deal with.
Pakistan forwards and midfielders like Faisal Iqbal, Sammer Ishaq and Atif Bashir did play well but midfielder Hasnain Abbass was out of sorts. In fact Faisal played his heart out but he did not find the cage and no other player properly supported him. As of Sammer, he was inconsistent in his finishing while Atif would have been the man to be declared the player of the match for his approach and efforts. If Pakistan approached the Bangladesh cage about a doze time, Atif would be among those moves on at least eight occasions.
However, watching the Pakistan play, they seemed to be requiring qualified coaching and a team which would understand each other or maybe the selected lot be kept in a camp for at least for one or two months to develop a proper combination and cohesion.
