Both Bangladesh and Tajikistan made a false kick-start to their World Cup Qualification Asia campaign as they look for a brighter result when they meet in their second Group B game at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today evening.
Playing their second home game, Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam remains confident of a better show compared to their 1-3 defeat to Kyrgyzstan last Thursday. Tajikistan, also called The Persian Lion, also had a poor home outing by the same margin against Jordan and they will be keen to claim full points from the game and keep their hopes alive of making it to the finals for the first time in their history.
Despite being the home side, Bangladesh are still the less favourite to come out with a win from the contest but one cannot also rule out the possibility of an upset. The men in red and greens’ only win in six meetings came the last time they faced off in 2010.
Bangladesh striker Enamul Haque, who scored in that 2-1 win, will draw the most inspiration from that game five years ago as he had lost his place in the national colours in the same year and only retained his place last month for the qualifiers.
The match holds extra importance for both the sides because their standings in the five-team group will determine their fate for the Asian Cup 2019. Currently they both sit at the bottom with similar goal difference of -2.
The message from Tajikistan captain Alisher Tuychiev was clear, “We came here to win. Hopefully we will do our job.” And rightly so, Bangladesh coach Lodewijk de Kruif is taking the match as another challenge as he said, “Tajikistan are a strong team from every aspect. Physically, technically, tactically and expereince wise, it is a big challenge for us. We are the home team and it’s a fantastic opportunity to show that we can do better than the first game.”
As far as Bangladesh are concerned, they will give their all to get at least a point from the match. They have enjoyed some positive result at home in the last two years and will be rely on a bit of luck for their game plan to deliver. Bangladesh, however, will miss the service of their goal-scoring centre-back Nasir Uddin Chowdhury who limped off in their last match with a knee injury. He was later ruled out for two months as Rayhan Hasan is most likely to fill his boots.
