The Bangladesh Under-23 football team will face a stern test in order to prove their credentials in the upcoming 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next month as they were placed alongside tournament favourites Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and Saff Championship winners Afghanistan in a tough group.
All the three teams are positioned above Bangladesh in the Fifa world rankings as well as the continental rankings. Ranked 51st in the world, Uzbekistan are third in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rankings and are considered by many to be the favourites to claim the title of the men’s football competition in the Asiad. Hong Kong are ranked 32nd in the AFC rankings while Afghanistan, the defending Saff Championship winners, are ranked 19th. Bangladesh, meanwhile, are ranked 36th according to the latest AFC rankings.
In the last edition of the Games hosted by Guangzhou four years ago, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong were also grouped with Bangladesh. Bangladesh will not have fond memories as they went down to defeats against both the teams losing 4-1 against Hong Kong and 3-0 against Uzbekistan. Overall, Bangladesh have won only two matches in 19 attempts in the history of the Asian Games.
The competitiveness of the tough group was not lost on Bangladesh’s Dutch assistant coach Rene Koster who requested the supporters not to expect big things from the football side. Given the country’s past record in the Asian Games, Koster was also circumspect whilst putting Bangladesh’s chances of progressing past the group stage at 30 percent.
“There are two teams in the group who we have played before in the Asian Games and lost against both teams. All three teams in the group are ranked higher than us so it is unwise to expect anything big,” said the Dutch assistant coach yesterday.
“There is no chance that we are favourites in the group. We played against Afghanistan recently so we now have to do homework for the other two sides,” added Koster.
National striker Wahed Ahmed though put up a brave face saying the draw is ‘neither tough nor easy’. “We will give a good fight against Afghanistan and I believe we will put up a positive result against Hong Kong,” said the Mohammedan striker.
The draw ceremony was held yesterday where a total of 29 teams were split into eight groups. The participating teams have been divided into five groups of four teams and three groups of three.
Bangladesh will play their first match against Hong Kong on September 15 at Hwaseong Sports Complex before facing Uzbekistan three days later at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Field. The third and final group game against Afghanistan will take place on September 22 at Munhak Stadium.
The top two sides from each group will move to the round of 16. Although the Asian Games will get underway on September 19, the men’s football tournament will begin on September 14.