The gates rattled even before kickoff. It was the last working day before Eid, but the newly-renovated National Stadium buzzed with anticipation.

Thousands gathered — some with tickets, some without — trying to find a way in. 

When the Bangladesh team arrived, a full 90 minutes before the match, the roar could be heard across Motijheel. 

All eyes were on one man though. Hamza Choudhury — a Premier League midfielder, Bangladesh’s new midfield engine — was finally here, in the flesh.

He waved. The crowd erupted. 

Every touch in the warm-up drew cheers. Every rondo pass was met with applause. 

And just six minutes into the game, he gave them what they’d been waiting for.

A curling cross from Jamal Bhuyan. A perfectly timed header. One goal. The roar turned into thunder.

Hamza didn’t celebrate wildly.

He simply turned, arms slightly raised, soaking it in — a player meeting a crowd that had already embraced him.

It wasn’t just the goal though. 

He was everywhere on the pitch on the night.

Dropping between centre-backs. Pressing high. Reading passes before they happened. Moving through the pitch like he’d been playing on it for years. 

It wasn’t flashy. It was just right.

Remember that Roy Kent chant in the popular TV series Ted Lasso? 

For 45 minutes in Dhaka, that was Hamza.

“Definitely Hamza had a big impact in the first half,” said Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera after the match.

“Especially at the beginning (with the goal). When a player like Hamza is on the pitch, the team plays better.”

Even Bhutan’s coach Atsushi Nakamura admitted: “We couldn’t get the ball from him. It’s difficult to block Hamza. He is a very different player from South Asian players.”

Hamza came off at the break — planned, measured. 

Bangladesh carried the momentum, adding a second through Sohel Rana’s screamer and closing out a comfortable 2–0 win. But by then, the night’s story had already been written.

A pitch invader sprinted across the field during the second half, heading straight to the Bangladesh dugout — not for fame, but for a selfie with Hamza.

He didn’t get it. But it didn’t matter.

Everyone in that stadium got what they came for.

They saw a player who didn’t just wear the badge — he honoured it. 

And in return, Dhaka gave him something that can’t be planned or coached - a welcome that felt like home.