Anisur Rahman

Bangladesh football looked dead and buried during a World Cup Qualifier in Doha against India in June, defending for 90 minutes before their resistance was broken by a late Sunil Chhetri brace.

The men in red and green jumped high to punch their fists in the air as 10-man Bangladesh courageously came from behind to hold seven-time champions India to a 1-1 draw in their second match of the SAFF Championship at the National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives.

Having come back from a goal down and one man short to earn a creditable 1-1 draw against India, Bangladesh football coach Oscar Bruzon mentioned that the Bangladesh football is still well and truly alive and expressed his satisfaction with the performance of the national team in their second SAFF Championship encounter at Maldives yesterday.

With the clock ticking down during the World Cup qualifying match against India at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha in June,

After a light training session at the Turf Ground in Male yesterday afternoon following a 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in the opener of SAFF Championship on the previous day, Bangladesh players were waiting for the team bus when suddenly Tapu Barman asked a reporter whether Bangla food was available somewhere near the team hotel.

Bangladesh football team apparently had a hidden pressure to get off to a winning start in the SAFF Championship and the charges of interim coach Oscar Bruzon did it after switching to a brand of possession-based football from a defensive one.

The little Velana International Airport may not be that attractive upon arrival, especially after catching a sneak peek of the splendid beauty of Maldives from the sky.

Bangladesh’s bid to play the final of the SAFF Championship got off to a positive note as they handed a single-goal defeat to Sri Lanka in the opening match of the regional football extravaganza at the National Football Stadium in Male yesterday.

A revitalised Bangladesh are set to begin their SAFF Championship campaign with hopes of a winning start in their opening match against a new-look new-look Sri Lanka at the National Football Stadium in Male today.

“I have already bought a ticket to watch Bangladesh’s opening match against Sri Lanka after standing in a long queue on Wednesday. Many Bangladeshis living here are also waiting to buy tickets,” expatriate Mansur Ali contentedly answered ahead of the start of the SAFF Championship in Male today.

Ahead of the 13th SAFF Championship in the Maldives from October 1, Bangladesh will hope their desire to play the elusive final does not again turn to despair.

Interim coach Oscar Bruzon has already announced his intention to implement an attacking style of football in the upcoming SAFF Championship,

Surprising call-ups of France-based midfielder Tahmid Islam and Canada-based forward Rahbar Wahed Khan in Kyrgyzstan-bound Bangladesh football squad has apparently been leading the discussion of whether the dearth of quality local players has prompted the Bangladesh Football Federation to lean on expatriate footballers.

San Marino, a country with a population of only 34 thousand, Burkina Faso (20.90 million) and Turkmenistan (61.13 million), all three have erased their names from the awkward list of the countries that never won a single Olympic medal. Whereas Bangladesh, a country with 163 million population, are still carrying the tag of the most populous yet unsuccessful nation in the Olympics history, following yet another barren campaign in Tokyo, their tenth overall. 

“I tried my best but it was not enough,” were the first words from teenage archer Diya Siddique after her loss to Karyna Dziominskaya of Belarus in a tiebreaker in the women’s individual recurve event at the Tokyo Olympics yesterday.

After being eliminated from the second round of the men’s individual recurve event at the Tokyo Olympics, Bangladesh’s top archer Ruman Sana felt the urge to smash his bow shortly before returning to his senses and setting his sights on a gold medal at the 2028 Olympics.

Teenage archer Diya Siddique is considered to be the third potential athlete -- after Ruman Sana and shooter Abdullah Hel Baki -- to bring success for Bangladesh in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the 17-year-old archer has recently hogged the limelight by bagging a silver medal by pairing with Ruman in the Recurve mixed event of Archery World Cup in Switzerland.

Archer Ruman Sana’s direct qualification to 2020 Tokyo Olympics has seemingly fueled the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) to dream something big this time around even though it has always been a token participation in the Olympics for Bangladesh since its first appearance at world’s showpiece event in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

With fans still reeling from the excitement of Copa America and Euros, any enthusiasm regarding the SAFF Championship -- South Asia’s biggest football carnival -- is likely to be vanish before a ball is kicked due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thirty-seven years since a maiden appearance at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, participation at the Games remains a symbolic gesture on the part of Bangladeshi athletes.