Hosts' chance to bounce back
Following disappointment in last month's SAFF Championship, Bangladesh now seek redemption by confirming a semifinal berth in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup with the hosts set to take on Laos in the tournament opener at the Sylhet District Stadium today.
Maasranga TV and Nagorik TV will telecast the match, which gets underway at 6:30pm, live from the venue.
The booters gained prominence after qualifying for the Asian Games's knockout stage for the first time and expectations were high when they put up strong performances in the SAFF Championship's first two group matches. However the men in red and green fell short against Nepal and were subsequently eliminated from the group stages of the regional championship for the fourth consecutive time.
The team now have an opportunity to revitalise their spirits following by ensuring a spot in the semifinals of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup but to do that, Bangladesh need to start the tournament well by overcoming Laos, a team they never beat in their previous two meetings.
Bangladesh may, however, take inspiration from the good fight they put up against Laos in a FIFA friendly in March. The booters came from two goals down to play out a 2-2 draw in that match.
“Laos are a good side but not as good as they seem because we only conceded the two early goals due to our silly mistakes. I recall that I made one mistake to award them a penalty. At the moment I think we have the capacity to beat Laos,” midfielder Masuk Mia Jonny said after a training session at the Sylhet BKSP yesterday morning.
“We were disappointed after the Nepal defeat but that's past and we don't want to look back; rather we look forward to doing something better in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup,” the former Mohammedan midfielder added.
Bangladesh coach Jamie day only had 10 days to prepare for this tournament but he still believes that the team are ready for the tournament as they trained ahead of the Asian Games and SAFF Championship.
“It is a new tournament. We added a few new players to the squad, who are mostly young, to add pace in the attacking line-up. We can take confidence from the SAFF Championship, it's disappointing we didn't qualify for the semifinals but we played three matches well. Now, we want to use that in the Gold Cup. We are going to go out there and give it our very best go to try and get into the semifinals,” said the 38-year-old English coach at a pre-tournament briefing at a hotel in Sylhet yesterday.
“We know the first match of the tournament is like a knockout tie so we need go there and win. However, the match is going to be tough because they have a good coach and good players but we are looking forward to it nevertheless because we have good preparation,” Day added.
The coach is set to bring two changes to the squad due to the absences of injured Saad Uddin and Atiqur Rahman Fahad.
Laos coach Mike Wong Mun Hen did not speak about grabbing a victory directly but he did hint that they would fight till the final whistle.
“Who is better can be learnt after 90 minutes but the hosts are always a good side. However, we are also a competitive side and we will try our best till the last minute,” said Wong.
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