Saintfiet wary of altitude
Bangladesh coach Tom Saintfiet feels that coping with the high altitude of Thimphu will be challenging for his team who are set to take on hosts, Bhutan, in the second leg of the Asian Cup Qualifying Playoff on Monday.
Bangladesh need a win or at least a scoring draw tomorrow night in order to advance to the final phase of the qualifying campaign after being held to a goalless draw in the first leg at home in September.
“I don't think the artificial turf, which is a bit faster here than the ones in Dhaka, will be a big problem,” Saintfiet said yesterday morning. “Good footballers are supposed to play well on turf. However, the altitude could make things a bit difficult.”“That is why we need to pick the players in best physical conditions for the starting eleven. We will also need to make discreet substitutions because it will be tough for players to play at the same tempo for 90 minutes,” the Belgian coach said as he hinted that he has almost finished selecting his starting eleven.
The Bangladesh team landed in the Bhutan capital, which is 2300 metres above sea level, on Friday morning and attended a rigorous training session at a practice venue that very evening.
Yesterday Morning, the team set out for a walking session as advised by the team coach and during the latter part of the day they trained for the first time at the match venue, Changlimithang Stadium. The training sessions take place during the night in order to give the players a feel of the weather and conditions at those hours as the match is scheduled for a 6:00pm kick-off.
However, a few of the Bangladesh players are already familiar with the conditions as they have played here for Sheikh Jamal previously and most recently for Sheikh Russel in an AFC Cup fixture last month.
Shakhawat Hossain Rony is one of those players. The Sheikh Russel forward was blamed for missing a number of scoring opportunities during the first leg, but the man from Chittagong is hopeful about making amends.
“It is true that I couldn't capitalise on the chances in the first leg,” Rony admitted. “But I just got off an injury at that time. I have scored two goals in three league matches since then and I'm in a more confident mind frame now.”
Chittagong Abahani goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana, who donned the captain's armband during the first leg, feels they cannot afford to lose this match.
“We have put ourselves in this position,” Rana said. “Now we will have to get ourselves out with a collective effort as the future of our football depends heavily on this match.”
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