Booters gear up to tackle Palestine

Having watched the opening match of Three Nations Cup between hosts Kyrgyzstan and Palestine on Thursday night, Bangladesh head coach Jamie Day discussed the tactics of handling Palestine with his charges during yesterday's two-hour long training as the men in Red and Green prepare to take on the Lions of Canaan at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium on Sunday in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan defeated Palestine 1-0 in the match.

"After watching the match, we got a clear idea about both Palestine and Kyrgyzstan and today (Friday) we worked on Palestine's weakest and strongest points with the boys in training, so that they can implement those elements in the match," assistant coach Masud Parvez Kaiser told in a video message sent by the Bangladesh Football Federation.

"Palestine is a physical team and not very mobile but Kyrgyzstan move fast and exchange their positions quickly. We are hoping that the boys will get ready before the match and put a good show in both matches," added the assistant coach.

Midfielder Sohel Rana and defender Saad Uddin are also optimistic as they worked on tactics to combat Palestine in training.

"We had practice with some tactical insights of how to play against Palestine. We all watched Palestine's match last night (Thursday) and know their weak and strong points. We are hoping to produce a good result against Palestine and get prepared for the upcoming SAFF Championship," said the midfielder of Abahani.

Defender Saad said: "We are thinking match by match. Palestine are much stronger than us and the coach has been working accordingly. Jamie informed us about different info about Palestine and also in today's (Friday) training, so we are hoping for a good show on Sunday."

Palestine, ranked 102nd in FIFA Ranking, never lost to Bangladesh in five matches in which Bangladesh could only hold them to a 1-1 draw in now-defunct AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 but had lost all last four matches in between 2011 to 2020.