'Home advantage key against SL'

Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are looking forward to winning the two-match SS Steel FIFA Friendly Series to be held in Jessore and Rajshahi later this month.
Bangladesh's interim coach Saiful Bari Titu said his job would be to continue progressing in international football and taking de Kruif's philosophy, instilled over the last one-and-a-half years by the departing coach, forward.
Both teams went to Jessore yesterday, where the first match will be held on October 24, after they attended a press conference at the Bangladesh Football Federation. The second match will be held on October 27 in Rajshahi.
“He (de Kruif) worked with his own philosophy for the past two years (16 months in fact). I will not try to change that style overnight, instead I will continue the process of improving,” said Titu during the official press conference of the two sides at the BFF House yesterday.
“We do not know much about these Sri Lankan players, most of whom are very young. The last time we played against them was four years ago in the AFC Challenge Cup in Colombo, where we lost 3-0. But many things have changed since then and many new players have gotten into both sides. So we would like to win both of these games,” said Titu, who has had two previous stints at the helm of the national team.
The 45-year-old coach trimmed the squad to 23 members by leaving out Aminur Rahman Sajib, Omar Faruk Babu, Samiul Islam, Mezbah Uddin and Atiqur Rahman Meshu from the initial 28-member squad for the two friendlies; giving Topu Barman, Atikur Rahman Fahad, Yousuf Sifat and Rasel Mahmud Liton first-time opportunities in the senior national team.
Titu's opposite number, Nikola Kavazovic, believes the only advantage that Bangladesh have in the two matches is their home advantage.
“Our team is young, but we are here to win both matches. We want a jam-packed crowd at both venues because we want the experience of playing in front of a partisan crowd,” said the 39-year-old Serbian, who also claimed that his side had analysed each player of the Bangladesh team individually.
“Since I was appointed as Sri Lanka coach in July, we played two friendly matches in Seychelles. We won the first match and lost the second one. It was a good preparation as Seychelles is much better than the South Asian teams,” the 39-year-old Serbian said.
On paper, Sri Lanka have a slight edge over Bangladesh as they stand seven places above the hosts in the latest FIFA Rankings. They also fared a tad bit better than Bangladesh in the two previous SAFF Championships and won the latest meeting between the two sides (a 3-0 win in the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup). However, Bangladesh hold an 8-3 advantage over the islanders in their previous meetings.
“We are much stronger than we used to be a few years ago. We will be playing on home soil. The U-23 team played well recently and the senior players coming back into the side will make us even stronger,” said Bangladesh skipper Mamunul Islam.