Bangladesh played out yet another draw against Afghanistan in the second FIFA friendly despite putting up a brave display as head coach Javier Cabrera said his charges “definitely” deserved to win Thursday.
After a dominating performance eventually resulted in a stalemate last Sunday at the same venue, the men in red and green came from behind to fight out a 1-1 draw to conclude the two-match series against a side who are 32 places above them in the FIFA rankings.
“It was quite the game we expected - a more aggressive Afghanistan at the beginning. We knew that we were going to struggle early in the first half and we did but we were able to fight them back. We suffered after that but we were able to play our game in the last 15-20 minutes of the first half which gave us some confidence,” said Cabrera in the post-match press conference.
“On the second half, we conceded from a corner kick. It's ok, it can happen. And I think since then we totally dominated the game. We deserved to win, definitely this game,” added the Spanish tactician.
The two matches were part of Bangladesh’s preparation for the crucial World Cup and Asian Cup joint pre-qualifiers against the Maldives home and away next month.
Cabrera is “absolutely convinced” that his side have what it takes to overcome the South Asian neighbors and qualify for the World Cup qualifiers.
“The target was to prove ourselves that we are ready to beat the Maldives and we are absolutely convinced that this team have to qualify and have to play in Australia in November,” said Cabrera, alluding to Bangladesh’s next opponents in Group I of the first round of qualifiers, provided the Bengal Tigers get past the Maldives.
Palestine and Lebanon are the other two sides of the group.
When asked if there is any area for improvement before the Maldives ties, Cabrera replied, “I don't think we should now try to find what we have done wrong. We have done a very good window, not only a very good game today, but two games. We have even performed better. We are in a very good progression and we have to keep doing the same. We will see for sure there will be things that we can improve, but at this level we can achieve something important.”
“It’s positive that we have prepared against a very strong team and that was the objective of this September window to find a strong opponent, proving ourselves that we are at least at their level, have more confidence and be more prepared for the Maldives. So I'm very satisfied with this September window. The Maldives have strengths and weaknesses but I think Afghanistan have been a fantastic test for us,” added Cabrera.
Captain Jamal Bhuiyan was also in jolly mood at the media briefing as the midfielder said the team have improved a lot, especially in terms of dominating ball possession, than two years ago when they faced the same opponents during the World Cup qualifiers.
“We had good chances and dominated. I think they dominated for 20 minutes in the first half but we controlled the game, especially in the second half and we had good chances. Overall, we had the best chances in both matches. Unfortunately, we could not utilize those chances and we have to learn from these two matches. We have to get better and improve,” said Jamal, who is scheduled to fly for Argentina the same night to join his new club Sol de Mayo.