SPORTS REPORTER

Bangladesh found the back of the opposition net for the first time in five matches when winger Mohammad Ibrahim equalised against Turkmenistan in an Asian Cup Qualifying tie in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, but the forward is more concerned about the team’s habit of letting in goals from set-piece situations.

The men in red and green eventually lost the match 2-1 defeat to the 134th-ranked team, who capitalised on the shaky Bangladesh backline to score the winning goal in the second half.

“You can’t blame the defence only for conceding the second goal because defending is the job of the whole team. We have to perform well collectively in defending,” Ibrahim told reporters after yesterday’s practice session in Malaysia.

“We have to be more focused on set-pieces as we conceded three out of four goals from set-pieces in last two matches despite having good defending organisation,” said the Bashundhara Kings winger.

“The goal I scored may encourage me to think about scoring more but that strike has no value as we lost the match. So I’m not getting carried away with scoring the goal,” said the lad from Cox’s Bazar.

“The coach [Javier Cabrera] is always positive as we are gradually improving. We also need time to adjust with the ideas of the new coach, who is using almost the same formation that Jamie Day used to do,” said Ibrahim, who is determined to make it hard for Malaysia in the next match on Tuesday.