Bangladesh’s long cherished dream to reach the 2nd round of the 17th Asian Games Football was shattered after they were beaten 2-1 by upper-ranked Hong Kong in their last Group B match at Hwaseong Sport Complex Main Stadium in Incheon, South Korea on Monday. With this win, Hong Kong reached the round of 16 as the group runners-up alongside group champions Uzbekistan which beat Afghanistan by 5-0 goals in the day’s other match.In the day’s must-win match, Bangladesh Under-23 team forced their stronger rival Hong Kong Under-23 side to play goalless till the 52nd minute of the match, but eventually failed to maintain their rhythm and conceded defeat. Annan put Hong Kong ahead in the 53rd minute while Lam Hok-Hei doubled the margin scoring the 2nd goal for Hong Kong in the 73rd minute (2-0).Sajib Rahman reduced the margin for Bangladesh in the 77th minute (2-1)In the four-team Group-B, Bangladesh started the day’s match as the 3rd ranked team securing three points from two matches with 1-0 win against Afghanistan in the first match and a 0-3 loss against Uzbekistan in the 2nd match. After their last group match, top seed Uzbekistan and Hong Kong secured seven points each from three group matches. However, Uzbekistan emerged group champions by virtue of better goal difference (9-1) while Hong Kong finished group runners-up due to poor goal difference (5-3).A total of 29 Asian football teams, split into eight groups, are competing in the men’s soccer of the Asian Games.
