Egypt test for hosts

Hosts Bangladesh will be hoping to play out of their skin in a bid to extend their journey in the Hockey World League Round-2 when they face a strong Egypt side in the fourth quarterfinal at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium today.

The charges of Oliver Kurtz started the campaign with a target of reaching the semifinals of the eight-nation meet, but they hardly showed any inspiring performances in group stages. In all three matches, the hosts lacked cohesion in three departments and they were simply lacklustre and shorn of spirit.

A 2-3 defeat against Oman, following a defeat against Malaysia and a win against Fiji, has all but extinguished Bangladesh's hopes as they find themselves up against world's 20th ranked Egypt in the last eight.

In a bid to reducing workload on the players, Kurtz cancelled yesterday's training session on the eve of the match against Egypt, who beat Bangladesh 2-1 in their lone previous meeting in 2001. Egypt, meanwhile, have drawn against China and Ghana in regulation time before beating both sides in penalty shootout during this competition.

Local coach Mahabub Harun admitted that Bangladesh's performance has not been even as good as it was during the AHF Cup in Hong Kong, but they would be taking inspiration from Ghana's 1-1 draw with Egypt.

“We have to play extra-ordinary hockey against Egypt. If the boys can implement the plan of the coach, then we have a good chance in the match. But if we continue to perform the way we played in the last three matches, we won't stand any chance,” Harun said. “If Ghana could hold Egypt in a group match, so can we since we beat Ghana in a practice match recently.”

Skipper Rasel Mahmud Jimmy will have to play an inspirational game if Bangladesh are to play 'extra-ordinary hockey', but as a big blow to the hosts, Jimmy has suffered a fracture on his toe and is likely to play with high a dose of medicine.