Bhutan take giant step towards 2019 Asian Cup

Bhutan secured a historic place in the final round of qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup with a 3-1 win over Bangladesh, taking the lead after just four minutes at Changlimithang Stadium.

The final round of qualifiers for the 24-team 2019 tournament in the United Arab Emirates offers a total of 12 places in the final and will begin in March 2017.

Now eliminated, Bangladesh will turn their focus to next month’s AFC Solidarity Cup in Malaysia.

“We are all very happy with the result,” said Bhutan coach Torsten Spittler. “I think a lot of things went right. We were prepared and we knew about the way Bangladesh would play, with a lot of high balls and we trained for that.

“There was probably a bit of luck, but we were using these situations. We could have scored many more goals in the first half and the second half. I told the players there might be situations when they come under pressure but we had a little bit of luck as it didn’t go to 2-2.

“We tried to play and keep the ball on the ground. Our players followed the match plan much better this time. In Bangladesh it was 30 minutes, today it was probably 90 minutes except for 10 minutes after the goal and it was a stupid goal. There are young players and they should learn from it. They could have helped me get less grey hair by getting more goals. But it was a good match for the spectators.”

The home side dominated and deserved an even bigger advantage.

“I’m still shocked,” said Bangladesh coach Tom Saintfiet. “I don’t know if I should protect the players because I think the first two goals were from huge mistakes, unacceptable mistakes. We gave presents to Santa Claus. The goalkeeper and central defender made catastrophic mistakes. It was my fault, I selected these players.

“It was very bad for Bangladesh football. I think Bhutan showed that, despite being a small nation, with good fundamentals and hard work you can still reach somewhere. I think some well-paid Bangladesh players should start thinking about whether they are ready to play at this level. I would like to apologise to the Bangladesh Football Federation and all the football-loving people.”