Sanchez praises organized, compact Bangladesh

Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez has praised Bangladesh as “organized” and “compact” while recalling the experience from the last meeting of the two sides ahead of Friday’s 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifying game in Doha.

Bangladesh gave the Asian champion some hard times despite the 2-0 defeat at home in the first leg of Group E fixtures at the monsoon affected Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka last year.

“It was a game where we had possession. They were defending very deep. It was not also easy for the weather and the field,” said the 44-year old Spanish coach during the pre-match press conference Thursday.

“We know that we need to play a very complete game because we are going to face a very competitive team. They are well organized and very compact and we know that we need to be very accurate in everything we are going to do.

“We have suspension and several injuries but we are very confident with the available players. We have a very nice group of players to face this game and hopefully, we are going to see them with big motivation and commitment and try to continue in a good way and get the result.”

Qatar are not only 125 places above the visiting side in the latest Fifa ranking, they are also leading the group with 13 points from five matches while Bangladesh collected only one point from four outings.