Booters gear up as defending champions arrive
Defending champions Palestine and first-time participants Mauritius arrived in Dhaka yesterday to take part in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup international football tournament, which will kick off at the Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow.
The defending champions, who arrived here following a 24-hour journey, will take on hosts Bangladesh in the opening fixture at 5:00pm tomorrow. The Middle Eastern nation have not brought their full-strength national team, rather a combination of young and experienced players, yet they are confident enough to take home the title.
Jaber Jaarin, the manager of the team, informed that they are taking this tournament as preparation for the World Cup qualifying fixture against Singapore in March.
“We are happy to be back here for the second time. We want to win the title this time too,” Jaarin said after the team arrived at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel where all the six teams will be based.
“There are eight Olympic team players and eight players who played in the last World Cup qualifying match. This team is a blend of youth and experience. We have a World Cup qualifying fixture in Singapore in March, so this tournament will be a good preparation for that,” Jaarin added.
Palestine had beaten Bangladesh 2-0 in the semifinals of the last edition in 2018 when they eventually won the title, beating Tajikistan on penalties in the final.
The Palestine team captain Taher Jabour also voiced his confidence about winning the title. “We have come here to defend the title. Many players of this team have played in the last Bangabandhu Gold Cup, so we have a fairly good idea about the tournament,” said the 27-year-old centre-back.
The Palestinians will take on Sri Lanka in their second and last group-stage match on Friday while Bangladesh will square off against the islanders two days later.
While Bangladesh will be earmarking a win against Sri Lanka for a place in the semifinals, they are willing to give their best against Palestine, the highest-ranked (106) team of the six-nation tournament.
Following a day’s rest, the Bangladesh team’s training session yesterday focused mostly on Palestine’s attacking style and how to defend and safeguard the goal against them.
Conceding late goals has become a cause for concern for the men in red and green, who conceded four goals in the second half of their World Cup qualifier against Oman in November last year, the same number of goals they had conceded in their three previous qualifying fixtures.
Things did not improve much in December’s South Asian Games where the Bangladesh team, masquerading as under-23s, managed only one clean sheet in four matches. The team’s goalkeeping coach Robert Mims is aware of the situation and wants the keepers and defenders to keep their concentration right till the end.
“Conceding late goals is a team issue, issue of concentration and is about being organised in certain situations. It is also about awareness of opposition’s tactics,” the coach said after the training session.
“(We are working on) making them aware of Palestine’s strength; how Palestine put you under pressure and where their dangers come from,” the goalkeeping coach said.
The team’s Number 1 goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana knows the defending champions will be a big challenge first up, but he feels the team can learn from mistakes of the past.
“The first match is always important in any tournament. Palestine are physically, tactically and technically far ahead of us,” Rana said. “However, we are confident from our position since we are playing at home. We are mindful of the defeat against Palestine in the last edition. The key for us is to concentrate till the last moment. The goalkeepers and defenders will have to take extra challenge.”
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