Last chance saloon
Ahead of the Joint Qualifiers for the World Cup and the Asian Cup, the first two home matches against Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were thought to be Bangladesh's best opportunity to collect points. Kyrgyzstan were thought to be the weakest team in Group B, after Bangladesh, as they were the second-lowest ranked side only above Bangladesh when the draw for the qualifiers was held back in April.
But Bangladesh's opening fixture against Kyrgyzstan at home ended in a 1-3 reverse for the hosts, and it came as a lesson for the men in red and green that no opponent is easy at this level of football no matter what their FIFA ranking or recent results indicate.
As Bangladesh take on another Central Asian side, Tajikistan, in their second qualifying fixture at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today, the players and the team management know that this could be their last realistic opportunity of collecting points because the remaining fixtures – two each against Australia and Jordan at home and away and two away matches against Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – will only pose greater challenges.
However, with the Kyrgyzstan defeat still haunting them, neither the Bangladesh players nor the head coach Lodewijk de Kruif could sound too optimistic about their chances in this match. All they could muster, during the pre-match press briefing, was: 'will to fight, learning from mistakes, and proving worth'.
De Kruif, who will not be able to stand in the dug-out today due to his expulsion in the previous match and subsequent suspension, said this match is an opportunity to fight against a better side.
“We saw the match between Tajikistan and Jordan. We have to say Tajikistan are a strong team in every aspect. They are physically very strong, they have experience and are technically and tactically very good. For us, it is a big challenge,” said the Dutchman, referring to Tajikistan's 1-3 defeat against Jordan in their opening qualifying fixture.
The 45-year-old coach believes Bangladesh will have the home advantage, even if home advantage mattered little in the end against Kyrgyzstan.
“For us there are a few advantages. We have experience after the last game and it is also a home game for us. We hope more crowd will come in compared to the one we saw in the last game. It is a fantastic opportunity to see what better we can do this time,” said de Kruif.
Though de Kruif did not reveal his strategy for this match, it is expected that the Dutchman will adopt a counter-attacking approach, with two to three changes in the starting eleven .
While Tajikistan are ranked 38 places above Kyrgyzstan, they do not have enough Europe-based players in their side like the Kyrgyz, who rode on the performance of those Europe-based players in outplaying Bangladesh. The Persian Lions have only a few players who play in the leagues of neighbouring countries, even though they were forced to exclude one Russia-based and one Kazakhstan-based player due to injuries.
The Tajikistan coach, Mukhsin Mukhamadiev, was however confident of a win so that they can make up for their defeat against Jordan.
“We have had really good preparation for this match and this is very important for us because we lost the first match at home as like Bangladesh. We will put on our best effort and we are in a good mood to win the match,” said Mukhamadiev.
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