The 2026 FIFA World Cup is soon entering into the third round of the qualification stage. At the same time, Bangladesh which is known for its peoples affection for the game of football has closed its World Cup chapter for another time after being eliminated from round two of the qualifiers.
For the last few times, Bangladesh finished its World Cup journey playing the second round. It seems that the second round of the qualifying stage is the highest round of the FIFA World Cup we are capable of playing for now.
If we look back on the recent years performance of Bangladesh in the World Cup, we may feel sorry for our hopelessness.
In the second round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Bangladesh was in Group-B. There, Bangladesh faced Australia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan twice, in a home match and an away match each. Bangladesh lost all the matches except a 1-1 tie with Tajikistan.
In the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Group-E had Bangladesh along with Qatar, Oman, India and Afghanistan. All the opponents faced each other twice. The qualifiers witnessed Bangladesh play two 1-1 tie matches, the first one with India and the latter with Afghanistan.
Recently, Bangladesh finished playing and was eliminated from the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. This time, Bangladesh got Australia, Lebanon and Palestine in the group. The boys in red and green outfits lost all except a 1-1 tie with Lebanon at home. Playing six matches, the achievement of Bangladesh was collecting a single point and being the fourth in a four-team group.
One may argue that a win against a powerful opponent like Australia, Jordan, Tajikistan, Qatar, or Oman is not expected. But that did not stop other low-ranked teams from giving a good fight against stronger opponents. Playing against powerful teams is an achievement as per the psychology of players and officials of Bangladesh.
After failing the World Cup qualifiers, we failed to do well in the AFC Asian Cup qualification rounds as well. The reason behind this remains the same. The reason was we did not even try to find out the reason. So how are we planning on doing well in future?
