Bangladesh U-15s Lose Baku Final 4-1 and Finish 130th

Bangladesh lost 4-1 to the Central African Republic in the Tier E final of the FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan. The result meant the U-15 footballers ended their campaign in 130th place in a competition involving 189 countries.

The Central African Republic did not take long to break down Bangladesh’s resistance in the final. Moi opened the scoring in the 14th minute, and Penel doubled the lead four minutes later.

Trailing by two goals, Bangladesh reduced the deficit in the 23rd minute through Takib. But they conceded again within three minutes, as Moi scored his second to make it 3-1.

Moi completed his hat-trick late in the first half, making Bangladesh’s comeback task even harder. The scoreline stood at 4-1 before the break.

There were no further goals in the second half. Bangladesh tried to cut the deficit but could not break through the Central African Republic defence, and left the field with a heavy defeat as the Tier E title went to their opponents.

Despite losing the final, Bangladesh’s run in the closing phase of the tournament was notable. They had reached the final by beating Seychelles, Singapore, Montenegro and Gabon.

Bangladesh’s winning run in the 32-team knockout phase began with a 4-2 tiebreaker win over Seychelles. The round-of-16 match against Singapore also went to a tiebreaker, which Bangladesh won 4-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals Bangladesh thrashed Montenegro 4-0, and then beat Gabon 1-0 in the semi-finals, where Ratul scored the winning goal.

The path to that stage had not been easy. Bangladesh had finished fifth in the six-team qualification round, before winning four straight knockout matches to reach the final.