Booters aim to bounce back

The Bangladesh national football team will be hoping to move on from their disappointing performances in the recently concluded SAFF Suzuki Cup when the hosts begin their Bangabandhu Gold Cup campaign by taking on Sri Lanka in the opening match at the Shamsul Huda Stadium in Jessore today.

The match will be telecasted live by Channel 9 at 2:45pm.

After being eliminated from the group stages of the SAFF Suzuki Cup, the booters are under hefty pressure and Wednesday's fiasco regarding 12 players' transfers payments heaped extra pressure on the footballers ahead of today's match against SAFF Cup semifinalist Sri Lanka. However, the visitors have brought their U-23 team as part of their preparation for next month's South Asian (SA) Games in India.

"It is always a challenge to produce good results against any side when you are under pressure. We could not perform well in the SAFF Cup under pressure, but this time we have been trying to understand how to overcome the pressure and how to perform better,” said Bangladesh coach Maruful Haque at the pre-match conference at a city hotel yesterday.

Maruful also believes the fiasco of the players' transfer payment would not have any impact on the players' performance if the players are professional.

However, putting all odds behind, Maruful is looking forward to a winning start against Sri Lanka and injecting some confidence into his charges. His team may gain satisfaction from the fact that they beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in their meeting in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup last year, though they had to be content with a 1-1 draw against the same opponents at the same ground in September 2014.

“I have got only three days to prepare the team since our last match against Bhutan on December 28 and from what I have seen in the boys, they are mentally and physically prepared for tomorrow's [Friday's] match. We want to start the tournament on a winning note,” said the 46-year-old coach, adding that they would think further after the match against Sri Lanka.

Maruful will heavily rely on midfielders Jamal Bhuiyan and Mamunul Islam to control the game in his 4-4-2 formation, where Shakhwat Hossain Rony, one of Nabib Jewas Jibon or Zahid Hasan Emily, Jewel Rana, Zahid Hasan, Wali Faisal, Nasir Chowdhury, Yeasin Khan, Nasirul Islam and goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Shohel are likely to start in playing eleven.

Marful's counterpart Sampath Perera said that this tournament was part of their preparation for next month's SA Games, with their 23-member squad consisting of 16 players from the U-23 team and eight who played in the SAFF Suzuki Cup in India.

“This is an opportunity to give the exposure to the U-23 players ahead of the SA Games and our target is to get the players ready for the SA Games. I can assure you that most of the players, who are under 23, are going to play the first match against Bangladesh,” said Sampath.