BD on the defensive
While Japan U-21 team are considering their tour of Bangladesh as a preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games Qualification round, hosts Bangladesh are looking to eke out a respectable result in the December 18 Friendly.
The Japan U-21 team landed in Thailand on Thursday to play a friendly match against Thai counterparts on Sunday before heading to Bangladesh on December 16.
Japan U-21 coach Teguramori Makoto, according to Japan Football Association (JFA) website, believes that this tour (Thailand and Bangladesh) is important for the players to acclimatise to different environments as their ultimate goal is to 'change Japan's football by winning a medal in the Olympics.
“The players, who are already good in this environment, can improve themselves even more, and those, who are not good, can use this opportunity to become better. I hope they will do their best in this tour with pride and responsibility like the national team,” Makota was quoted as saying by the official website of JFA.
Expecting the U-21 team of the World Cup regular participants as a formidable opposition, Bangladesh coach Saiful Bari Titu is of taking a defensive approach, and look for opportunities to catch the visitors on the break.
Even though Titu had earlier said that a draw against the visiting team would be a big success, he yesterday told the reporters that he is preparing his charges so as not to concede too many goals.
“For the last five days in training, I have been trying to formations with the team – the 5-4-1 formation and the 4-5-1 formation,” said the former Bangladesh international.
Promising midfielder Hemanta Vincent Biswas echoed the sentiment of his coach, “Our main goal is not to concede goals. The coach instructed us to slow down the pace of Japan and avail the chances from counter attack,” said Hemanta, who missed out on the two FIFA friendly matches against Sri Lanka in October due to a hamstring injury, from which he has already recovered.
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