Coach Duly Impressed by Farhan’s ‘Incredible’ and ‘Beautiful’ Goal

Bangladesh thrashed Sri Lanka 4-0 in their final Group A match of the SAFF Championship. Young footballer Farhan Ali Wahid caught the eye on the night of the hosts’ emphatic victory at the National Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday. His dazzling solo effort was met with praise from Bangladesh head coach Thomas Dooley after the match.

Bangladesh went into the break leading 2-0 in the first half. Farhan broke through on the left wing early in the second half, beating three defenders and slotting the ball into the net from a difficult angle with great skill. Coach Dooley called his goal ‘unbelievable’ and ‘beautiful’.

“Yes, absolutely,” Dooley said at the post-match press conference. “The way he dribbled past three or four players and got out was really amazing. The shot was quite difficult and the goal was beautiful.”

Expressing satisfaction with the team’s overall performance, the coach added, “Overall, it was a great match. Just think, if Hamza’s back-heel pass had turned into a goal, what incredible goals we would have scored today! Rakib also scored a great goal. We are really happy and proud of the players’ performance from the first to the last minute.”

Dooley said he spoke to Farhan during the break and advised the youngster to use his attacking power to get inside the opponent’s box rather than dribbling close to his own goalposts.

“At half-time we told Farhan to dribble inside the box instead of in front of our own goalposts. It’s good for him too. Because losing the ball there can be dangerous – there have been a few fouls and we’ve managed to get a few, but it still makes it a little difficult. So we told him to use his strength in attack,” Dooley said.

Praising the student, he added, “And what a great goal he scored! It’s incredible. Overall, I’m really happy with the way we scored all the great goals, the way we played and fought.”

Apart from Farhan’s goal, Samit Som, Hamza Chowdhury and Rakib Hossain also found the net for Bangladesh today. With this big win, Bangladesh has qualified for the semi-finals as group champions. The red-green representatives will face Pakistan in the last four match on Saturday.

This is the first time Bangladesh has won a match by four goals in international football since 1999. They had defeated Pakistan by the same margin in the SAFF Championship held in Goa, India.

However, there was some bad news for Bangladesh on the night of this memorable victory. Coach Dooley expressed concern over the injury of defender Saad Uddin. Saad had to leave the field on a stretcher in the 76th minute of the match after injuring his ankle.

In this regard, Dooley said, “The bad thing is that Saad is injured and will probably not be able to play in the tournament again.”