Bangladesh U-20 Football team made a good start in the five-nation AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers after playing goalless draw with stronger Bahrain in one of the two opening day matches at Sheikh Ali Bin Mohammed Bin Khalifa Stadium in Bahrain Saturday.
With this well merited draw, Bangladesh boys earned a creditable point from their upper ranked Gulf nation in their first match.
Bangladesh boys brilliantly faced their much superior Arabian rivals till the last whistle to snatch an important point.
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Hosts Bahrain dominated the match for most of the proceedings with 64 percent ball possession and came close score on five occasions, but all of their attempts were foiled near confident defense line-up of touring Bangladesh.
Bangladesh managed one chance but failed to utilize it.
Bangladesh, which was placed in strong Group B of the Asian qualifying round with stronger Qatar, hosts Bahrain, Nepal and Bhutan, will play Bhutan on Monday (Sept 12), Qatar on Sept 16 and Nepal on Sept 18 in the remaining matches.
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Earlier in the first match, Bhutan beat Nepal by 2-0 goals Saturday afternoon to take a solo lead in Group B.
A total 43 Asian countries, split into 10 groups, are competing in the first phase of the meet.
Later, ten group champions and five best runners-up teams and hosts Uzbekistan will play in the 16-team final round of the meet in Uzbekistan next year.