Bangladesh falls short in seven-goal thriller

Bangladesh’s Asian Cup dreams are hanging by a thread after a chaotic 4-3 defeat to Hong Kong, China in their home qualifier at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Thursday.

In a match that swung like a pendulum, the hosts went 1-0 up early through a moment of Hamza Choudhury’s brilliance but ended up squandering the lead not once, but twice, before conceding the winner in the final minute of stoppage time.

Hamza opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a stunning free-kick from a tight angle that sent the crowd into raptures. The Leicester City midfielder’s effort, possibly aided by a deflection, wrong-footed the keeper and gave Bangladesh the perfect start. The early lead, however, only masked the defensive frailties that would soon be laid bare.

Hong Kong levelled just before half-time when the hosts failed to clear a corner, allowing Everton Camargo to pounce from close range. The second half began in a similar fashion, with another defensive lapse gifting substitute Raphael Merkies an easy finish to make it 2-1.

Minutes later, the same player struck again after a simple cutback found him unmarked inside the box — a sequence that exposed Bangladesh’s shaky organisation at the back.

Down 1-3 and seemingly beaten, Javier Cabrera’s men somehow clawed their way back into the contest. Shekh Morsalin capitalised on a goalkeeper error in the 84th minute, before substitute Shamit Shome headed in an injury-time equaliser to send the stadium into delirium.

But the celebrations barely lasted two minutes. Straight from kick-off, Hong Kong surged forward unchallenged, and Merkies completed his hat-trick with a composed finish to seal a 4-3 victory and silence the home crowd.