Bangladesh defender Topu Barman believes their capacities are equal to those of their Indian counterpart, and that the men in red and green are favorite to win in the battle of the neighbors in their forthcoming World Cup 2022 and Asian Cup 2023 joint qualifying match.
The Bengal Tigers have to play four more qualifying matches, which were postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic, in October and November this year, and the 25-year old defender fancies their chance against the Indians as they played out a creditable draw in the away fixture early in the year in front of a jam-packed crowd of around 100,000 spectators.
“We had almost won against India at their home match, but unfortunately, conceded the late goal in the 89th minute. It was our bad luck. What we did against them there, I think it’ll now play a positive role against India. We know about the Indian team, we have played matches against them. I found no difference between our conditions, both of us are in an equal position. It is going to be a 50-50 match. Besides, we’ll have an extra advantage in the home game,” said Topu via a video message to the media Tuesday.
Bangladesh will face India on November 12, but their immediate challenge will be Afghanistan as they will host the side on October 8 before facing Qatar at an away match on October 13.
With the pandemic paving the way for all sorts of sporting activities to be postponed, the players may find the challenge of not practicing much in the last few months, but Topu is of the opinion that they will prepare themselves with adequate training for the mission of the qualifiers.
“We will take on Afghanistan on October 8 in our first home game. We have been out of training for more than three months. Hopefully, our camp will start in August, and we will have enough time to get ready for the match. The home sides always enjoy some extra advantages. We had a good fight against Afghanistan in the first-leg game in Tajikistan, though we lost the match conceding a late goal there. But if we compare team-wise, we are better than them. We did very well in the away match. So, I hope we will do well in the home game; I’m expecting a positive result,” said the centre-back, who has scored thrice in his 30 appearances since his international debut at a young age back in 2013.
Bangladesh will play their last group stage match at home against a strong Oman side on November 17, but the man from Narayanganj is confident that the home soil will play a pivotal role to help them achieve positive results.
“We know Oman are the strongest opponent. We lost the match 1-4 against them on their soil. I feel that was the toughest match of the qualifiers. We have played our away game, now Oman will come to play their away match. We’ll try hard to defend against them. All of us will try to perform well against Oman. I believe if we perform well at the team level against them, then we will get positive results. Finally, I hope we’ll get positive results in our three home game,” said the 5’11 tall player.