‘Must capitalise on Afghan slowness without the ball’
Former Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam is thinking of securing points against Afghanistan in their opening match of the joint qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup by taking advantage Afghanistan’s weaknesses during off-the-ball situations.
182nd-ranked Bangladesh will begin their campaign tomorrow in Dushanbe, Tajikistan by squaring off against 149th-ranked Afghanistan, who are coming into the match on the back of a 6-0 defeat against Qatar. This will be the first meeting between the two sides since the 2015 SAFF Championship in India where Afghanistan won 4-0.
“Afghanistan are a strong opponent, who have chosen to compete in the Central Asian Zone of AFC in a bid to climb up the ladder. So it is not going to be an easy match for us. We must respect them. But the positive thing is we will play at a neutral venue.
“Afghanistan are more dangerous with the ball because they go on attack swiftly but they are a little slow without the ball and we want to capitalise on that weakness to launch attacks on the break,” Mamunul said over phone after completing yesterday’s training session in Dushanbe.
“They have just arrived here today [Sunday] after playing against Qatar and they may be tired after playing a tough match and the travel. On the other hand, we will be fresh and we have to give our best if we want to get points against them,” said Mamunul, who scored the winning goal against Afghanistan during the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
The 30-year-old midfielder believes the current condition of the team is good and that are improving every day ahead of the Afghanistan tie.
“Everyone knows we are the lowest-ranked side in the group and it has both a negative and a positive side. Actually, we want to increase our FIFA ranking by beating the higher-ranked sides in the World Cup Qualifiers. The condition of the team is good and we are improving day by day,” the Abahani midfielder said. “We lost the first practice match due to fatigue from long travel, but we bounced back well in the second practice match.”
Even though Mamunul is a bit concerned with the defence in absence of veterans such as Tapu Barman and Nasiruddin Chowdhury, he is confident that the others will fill the vacuum.
“We will miss the services of Tapu and Nasir, but I believe other defenders will try to prove their worth in the match,” said Mamunul, who missed the last two AFC Cup matches against April 25 SC for his club Abahani due to an injury, but is now fit for the match against Afghanistan.