^ Exactly why behind our FIFA World Cup flag euphoria lies a hidden pain and disappointment of the realisation that we will never see our flag flying in the world stage in our lifetime. Most Bangladeshi youth prefer playing football over cricket, due to the fact that you don't really need much equipment or space. Within Bangladesh football is as popular of a game (if not more) than cricket. It's astonishing that despite this football craze, our domestic competitions and our national team suck so much.
We aren't the top team of South Asia, haven't been in the top-3 for a decade now. South Asia represents lowest, Tier-3 of Asia. Above us are South-East Asian nations of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines. Not too long ago our national team lost to Malaysia Under-19s. Above them are teams like Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Syria, China, North Korea.
And let's not even get into the top-tier of Asia consisting of Japan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan. Well done to Iceland to making it to the World Cup, that too from one of the hardest to qualify regions (Europe and South America)
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