Can Bangladesh stop Palestine?
Before going for a two-week training camp in Saudi Arabia ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers against Palestine, Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera had repeatedly said that his team needed to put in more than they did against Lebanon in a 1-1 draw in November last year.
Cabrera was optimistic before the match against Lebanon, especially after facing the same opposition in the SAFF Championships. However, the 39-year-old coach is clearly warier of the threat from Palestine, having watched the performances of the 97th-ranked nation in the AFC Asian Cup where the Middle East nation made it to the round of 16 before being beaten by eventual champions Qatar.
On the first day of training in Kuwait on Monday, experienced defender Tapu Barman stated that the whole team needed to defend against Palestine -- an apparent indication of what the game plan of Bangladesh might be, come March 21.
Bangladesh will be way of the Palestine team, who boast a number of overseas-based playersplaying in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Malaysia, Kuwait, Indonesia, Thailand and Belgium.
The Lions of Cannan usually attack through the flanks to take aerial advantage of having tall forwards, with Oday Dabbagh, who plays for Belgium's premier league side Sporting Charleroi, considered lethal on the ground and in the air. Dabbagh recently scored three goals in the Asian Cup to take his national team tally to 13 goals.
Shehab Qunbar, who finished as the top scorer in the Palestine league for two consecutive years, could be another threat for the Bangladesh defenders.
Al-Ittihad midfielder Mahmoud Abu Warda and Bangkok United forward forward Mahmoud Eid might also put Bangladesh defence –featuring Tapu Barman, Shakil Ahmed, Hasan Murad, Issa Faisal, Bishwanath Ghosh and Saad Uddin – under a lot of pressure.
However, captain Susab Battat delivers difficult crosses from an advanced right-back position and will take stern test of Faisal in Bangladesh's left-back position.
The charges of coach Makram Daboub are also good at set pieces, hence it is going to be tough for the Bangladeshi defenders to tackle the Palestinians in air.
Cabrera, in this case, will certainly miss the services of centre-back Tariq Kazi due to an injury.
His charges will try to attack on the break, where the likes of Rakib Hossain, Faisal Ahmed Fahim and Mojibur Rahman Jonny might have a hard time getting past Kuwait-based Michel Termanini, Saudi Arabia-based Camilo Saldana and Mohammad Saleh.
Still Bangladesh will want to produce a positive result against the Middle East side who drew 1-1 against the Men in Red and Green in 2006 after notching five straight wins.
"We have been together for a long time and we are going to play against Palestine in the middle of the Bangladesh Premier League, so there is not much question about the fitness of the players. I also think that output is better when there is a mixture of senior and junior players in the squad and we are progressing in that way because we have good communication amongst ourselves," Tapu told the media after the training session on Monday.
"If we can translate that on the pitch, we can expect a good result. We want to implement the game plan and objective the coach will task us in the match," the defender added.