Bangladesh out of Asian Cup Qualifiers

Bangladesh’s dream of advancing to the final round of the Asian Cup Qualifiers was buried at the hands of Bhutan when the visitors suffered a 1-3 defeat in the away match of the Play-Off Qualifiers at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu yesterday.

The defeat means Bangladesh will not have any international matches, organised by the AFC or FIFA, in the next two to three years until the next qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup as Bangladesh have already decided to pull out of November’s inaugural Solidarity Cup featuring the teams that failed to move into the Asian Cup Qualifiers.    

Bangladesh, who went to Thimphu on the back of a goalless draw in the first leg, needed a scoring draw at the least to progress to the next round but the boys in red and green surrendered meekly to the improving Bhutan, who thumped Bangladesh for the first time and progressed to the 24-team Asian Cup Qualifiers.

Tshering Dorji put Bhutan ahead in the fourth minute before Chencho Gyeltshen doubled the margin in the 26th minute. Bangladesh reduced the arrears in the second half before Chencho struck his second goal in the 75th minute to see off Bangladesh.