Dhaka: Bangladesh's determination held off Laos as the South Asians advanced to the next stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 Joint Qualification on Tuesday.
Although Bangladesh were held 0-0 at home in the return leg, the 1-0 win recorded in last week's first leg in Vientiane was enough to take Jamie Day's side through to the second round of the Asian Qualifiers.
“We are delighted to get through," said head coach Day, who wasn't worried that Bangladesh had failed to score on home soil.
“We had the best chances in the game, especially four good ones and we couldn’t take them. We did enough to win the game. The chances we created, I see them score in training. If we had taken the chances, the game would have been little easier.
“I’m not worried about our performance, neither about the missed chances. Tonight, the boys need to enjoy the moment knowing that all their hard work over the years is now worth it.”
Bangladesh skipper Jamal Bhuiyan was buoyed by the result.
“We played a different game with different tactics today. The idea was to qualify for the next round of the Qualifiers.
"Yes, maybe we didn’t play to our best but we got the result which is the most important thing. I am really proud of the boys.”
Asian Qualifiers: Bangladesh v Laos
Laos coach V Sundram Moorthy praised his charges and felt that they were unlucky not to win the game with all the chances they had.
“I think my boys put up a brave fight and gave it our best – I am very proud of them for that. We were just unlucky that we didn’t get that one goal; had we done that, it could have been anybody’s game.”
Photos: Bangladesh Football Federation
Source: the-afc.com