Bangladesh had a poor record against the Maldives for almost a decade but things seem to have turned recently which could tag them favorites for the must-win opening round tie of World Cup and Asian Cup joint qualifiers at home Tuesday.
The 1-1 draw in the first leg in Male last week means Bangladesh must win the second to advance to the next round of qualifiers as there will be no advantage of away goals according to new rules and extra-time or tiebreaker would decide the winner if it ends in stalemate after normal time.
Javier Cabrera’s side were without key trio Anisur Rahman Zico, Topu Barman and Sheikh Morsalin due to suspension but managed to snatch their first draw away to the Maldives in over 20 years.
‘Positive mentality’
Earlier this year, the men in red and green outplayed the Maldives 3-1 in the group stage of the SAFF Championship in India despite being ranked 34 places below in the FIFA rankings.
Bangladesh will once again miss the suspended trio in the do-or-die encounter but the performance of the replacements Shakil Hossain and Mitul Marma provided ray of hope.
“We came back to Dhaka quite optimistic with positive mentality after a huge fight in the Maldives. The draw in Male after a long time has given a lot of confidence to the team. We are ready for a huge and beautiful challenge in front of our crowd,” said Cabrera at the pre-match conference at the match venue Kings Arena Monday.
“We have been able to take the playoff to a single game at home and we are very positive about that,” Cabrera continued before adding, “If we are ourselves, confident and brave, we are going to make it.”
The Spaniard also said: “We want to achieve the most objective achievement of the year with a performance that the people can be proud of.”
‘Match of the year’
The winner will face Australia, Palestine and Lebanon in the group stage of second-round qualifiers with the opportunity to play six matches home and away over the next seven months and a defeat would mean none, along with an early exit.
Jamal Bhuiyan is well aware of this which is why the Bangladesh skipper termed the encounter as “final” and “match of the year”.
“It will be the match of the year for the national team. We recovered in the last few days in Dhaka along with tactical sessions. So we are getting almost ready for the game. So yeah, it's a big match for us and it's the final of the year,” said the holding midfielder.
While Mitul and Shakil’s display on international debut in the last match left little doubt, Foysal Ahmed Fahim lacked finishing touch but Jamal kept faith on the youngster.
“Fahim was a bit unlucky but he got his chances and a little bit more composure, he will score but he knows himself that he can do better. It's up to me and the other players to give him the best support. If he can score a goal, he will get more confidence and it will be easier for him.”
There is an absence of a genuine center-forward in the team which prompted Cabrera to try attacking midfielder Morsalin and right winger Fahim in the crucial position recently.
“There is a pressure for the striker but it’s not only striker but everybody has to score and everybody can’t,” said Jamal.
‘No pressure’
The Maldives have also been going through similar scoring problem since star striker Ali Ashfaq got injured.
“That quality of Ashfaq means a lot for us, but without him we have to manage,” said the Maldives head coach Ali Suzain.
Suzain expects a better pitch at Kings Arena than the one in Male which he thinks would help his players put up better passing game compared to what they did on home ground.
He also believes that the pressure will rather be on Bangladesh because of the rising expectation after 3-1 win at the SAFF Championship.
“Even for our team there's no pressure and we are very much prepared for this and I hope we can do much better than in Male. We know it will be difficult to play in Bangladesh, but we are ready to win.”
