Bangladesh will host the Singapore football team for the very first time in history when the Asian nations lock horns against each other today in a Fifa international friendly at Bangabandhu National Stadium. The friendly will kick off at 4pm.
Twenty-nine years have elapsed since the two sides last faced each other. On that occasion in Kathmandu, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Bangladesh and Singapore’s only other competitive meeting, in the 1973 Merdeka Cup in Malaysia, also ended in the same scoreline.
The football world might have changed drastically in the last three decades but the Tigers and the Lions will contest the friendly with the same intensity. And ahead of the 2018 Fifa World Cup second round qualifiers, a new dimension has been added to the friendly.
Bangladesh will begin their World Cup Group B qualifying campaign at home to Kyrgyzstan on June 11 before facing Tajikistan five days later while Singapore, placed in Group E, will start theirs away to Cambodia before facing Japan. Today’s friendly, therefore, has taken on extra significance ahead of both the sides’ World Cup qualifiers.
On the eve of the friendly, Bangladesh assistant coach Saiful Bari Titu confirmed that nearly ninety percent of the players who had taken part in the 2015 Bangabandhu Gold Cup will feature in the friendly. Titu added that in-form Muktijoddha striker Enamul Haque, Mohammedan forward Towhidul Alam Sabuj and Sheikh Jamal DC goalkeeper Mazharul Islam Hemel have a bright chance of taking the field today. Titu however, expressed concerns with regards to the participation of pacey Sheikh Russel KC winger Zahid Hossain, who might miss out due to sickness. Captain and talismanic midfielder Mamunul Islam though has recovered from injury.
Singapore’s German head coach Bernd Stange on the other hand said today’s friendly will test his charges ahead of the upcoming challenges of the World Cup qualifiers. Stange informed that his players’ match-fitness is in peak condition as most of them played as soon as last Saturday in the Malaysian FA Cup final. The 67-year old German however, admitted that they have very little knowledge of the opposition.
Singapore, ranked 162nd according to the latest Fifa rankings, are seven places ahead of Bangladesh.