In promises to be a “Battle Royale” Bangladesh will take on defending champions India in a crucial Group A match in the Saff Championship at the Armed Forces Ground, Lalitpur, Kathmandu today.
Bangladesh head coach Lodewijk de Kruif said it would be the most important match in his tenure as Bangladesh’s coach and called for his players to put their best foot forward for the country.
“The boys are ready, it’s a do or die match for us. In the last match we had a bad day but against India we have to put our best,” said de Kruif.
De Kruif was hopeful that skipper Mamunul Islam and attacking midfielder Sohel Rana would be fit enough to make the starting eleven and both players have been practicing wholeheartedly in training. However, forward Shakahwat Hossain Rony will not be able to play due to a groin injury.
De Kruif said will be looking to neutralize India’s experience with Bangladesh’s energetic youth. “We have to fight out the experience of India with the youthful vigour of my team. It’s the only the option of fighting the experience - to keep the pressure on and implement the plans.
“The defence would have to be more organized and we have to keep the possession. I hope the players will play to their ability,” he said.
Bangladesh will be wary of Indian forwards Sunil Chettry and Je Je Lalphekula as well as midfielder Mehtab Hossain’s controlled chips and through passes. Offensively, de Kruif’s men will look to winger Jahid Hossain since the Indian defence looks fragile on the flanks.
Indian team practiced at the Police Headquarters and their Dutch Coach Wim Koevermans said he is expecting a hard challenge from Bangladesh. “Bangladesh is on the brink of elimination and they will come harder than our expectation. However we are ready and we have some good information about Bangladesh. We have the plans to implement and beat them,” said Koevermans.
The Dutch coach added he was not worried about how his side performed against Pakistan and was looking forward to winning the upcoming match now.
“We have always said that we have to play five finals and tomorrow is another match and it will be a tough one. India is the team to beat, they are the defending champions and Bangladesh is going to come out as a tough team as they are in a battle of existence. They have lost to Nepal and they will be trying their best to win the match. They will pull out everything to win it, but we have some information about them and we have some plans also. We are not willing to take any opponents lightly.
“We have no injuries and the players are raring to go as a win will ensure us a place in the semis, which at the moment is our first target.”
Koevermans went on to praise the Bangladesh team. “Bangladesh is technically and tactically a good side, but we have to implement our plans to achieve our target. In the match against Pakistan, we started well but some sort of lack of concentration allowed Pakistan to get back in the game. However after the interval we changed the formation and we again took control. However we missed a couple of chances - what went wrong that we have lost the possession a lot of times and that increased the pressure. Pakistan played with a 4-4-2 formation and it did not allow us to dominate the midfield.
We were also using the same formation, when we changed our formation the scenario changed. Maybe we did not play that well but it was the beginning and we have to look forward. There are some the areas that we have to improve. We have to be there with a lot of confidence and we have to show our prowess.”
HEAD TO HEAD
Match BD won IND won Draw 29 5 17 7
