AFC Asia Cup: Lessons for Bangladesh
Although Bangladesh could not qualify to play in the final round of the 17th AFC Asia Cup Football 2019, the national team’s players and the officials can take lessons from the underway tournament. As for example, Australia dominated the hosts UAE in every department of the match, except in taking shot on target, but finally lost to confirm again that football is the game of goal.’
In ball possession, The Aussies team had 64 percent control compared with the UAE’s 36 percent, took 22 shots against the hosts seven, and gave 494 passes (accuracy 80 percent) compared with the UAE’s 293 passes (accuracy 64 percent). But the UAE did not fall behind Australia in taking shots on target. They were equal, two shots each, exposing the team from Oceania’s very vital weakness and it awarded an unexpected victory to meet Qatar in the second semi final on January 30.
A close analysis of the first quarterfinal match proved that Asia No. 1 Iran had slight edge on China but won by a comfortable margin of 3-0. Iran outplayed China by 52 to 48 percent in ball possession, shots on target by 7-2, shots by 18-5, passes 394-364, and pass accuracy 75-74 percent..
Bangladesh team management should collect Video of every match if possible and to screen it in front of the players so that they learn for application. However, the results of the four quarterfinals are Iran 3-0 China 3-0, Japan 1-0 Vietnam, Qatar 1-0 South Korea and UAE 1-0 Australia.
Asma Akhter
Dhaka
