Focus on finishing

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan is optimistic that his side can make it hard for India in the World Cup qualifying fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The Bangladesh team, who lost their first game of the qualifying campaign 1-0 against Afghanistan last month before going down 2-0 against Qatar at home on Thursday, reached Kolkata on Friday and wasted little time in starting preparation for the crucial match.

“We will have to be mentally and physically ready for the match against India because India will play at home and they will come hundred percent for a win. But we will also go for the win. It’s going to be a tough match. We have not lost to India in the last two matches -- 1-1 and 2-2 -- but since then India have developed a lot. It’s going to be a big match for my team, but we will go for the win,”

 Jamal told local reporters on reaching Kolkata.

Although statistics favours India heavily in matches between the two neighbouring countries, Bangladesh would want to take encouragement from their spirited display against Qatar where Jamie Day’s charges had more shots on target than the reigning Asian champions. However, the Red and Greens could not convert those shots into goals, thanks to some excellent defending from the Qataris as well as some wayward shooting from the Bangladesh forwards.

Hence the focus on yesterday’s two-hour practice session at the Salt Lake Stadium practice ground was mostly on finishing.

“The coach stressed on tactical aspects as well as finishing during today’s practice session. He worked separately with the forwards,” team manager Satyajid Das Rupu told reporters after yesterday’s practice session.

“Our finishing was not good against Qatar. We created a number of scoring opportunities, but could not score from those. That’s why the coach gave special attention to finishing,” Rupu added.

While Bangladesh are sitting at the bottom of Group E with zero points from two matches, India have one point, thanks to their valiant goalless draw against Qatar following a 2-1 defeat against Oman. The India players and coach are eager to get their qualification campaign running with a victory over Bangladesh. Home crowd could be a big advantage for India at the 85,000-capacity stadium, but former Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam hopes Bangladesh will also enjoy the crowd rather than get overwhelmed by it.

“We know there will be a lot of people at the stadium to watch the match. The crowd will be an encouragement for us too and we will definitely try to capitalise on the chances we might get,” said the midfielder, who was an unused member of ISL franchise Atletico de Kolkata in the 2015 season.

The coach, later in the video analysis session, got the message through to his charges that they should not become complacent by their performance against Qatar, rather they should try to rectify their mistakes in front of goal so that they do not have to leave the field again with regrets.