First WC qualifying win in 10 years in sight
Although playing in the FIFA World Cup proper is a dream that appears light years away for Bangladesh, the men in red and green have been playing the qualifying round the beautiful game's showpiece event for 36 years.
Being among the lowest-ranked sides in the FIFA Rankings, Bangladesh boast no achievements worth a mention in their footballing history barring a SAFF Championship. Since they began playing World Cup Qualifiers in 1985, Bangladesh have never made it past the initial hurdles whether they played in the group stage directly or participated in pre-qualifying stage.
In 54 World Cup qualifiers, Bangladesh have so far posted nine victories: twice against Thailand and Sri Lanka and once each against Indonesia, Taiwan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Lebanon.
In their 10th World Cup Qualifying campaign appearance, Bangladesh will be looking for a 10th triumph today in Doha when they take on India, who have beaten Bangladesh twice in three World Cup qualifier meetings.
Before the pre-qualifying stage was introduced for the 2006, 2010 and 2014 edition FIFA World Cups, Bangladesh played in the group stages directly in the five previous editions and registered at least one victory in each.
Two wins came in the qualifying rounds for the 1986 Mexico World Cup Qualifiers, one in the 1990 World Cup qualifiers, two in 1994 World Cup qualifiers and 1998 France World Cup qualifiers and one 2002 in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.
Afterwards, Bangladesh failed to get victories in the first-round matches of the 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers before advancing to the second-round play-off in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers with a 3-0 aggregate win over Pakistan. They were then eliminated by an aggregate of 4-2 against Lebanon.
During the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, Bangladesh suffered seven defeats in of eight matches, the other being a draw. They also remained winless after six matches of the ongoing 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
They have a realistic chance to end their 10-year drought in World Cup qualifiers by securing a win against India, who have not lost to Bangladesh in 18 years since a 1-2 defeat during the semifinal of the SAFF Championship in 2003 in Dhaka. Of 26 meeting between two sides, Bangladesh beat India thrice, lost 13 times and drew 10 times.
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