The Bangladesh Under-19 football team will be looking to secure second position in Group C of the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers when they complete their group games against Pakistan at the Francouse Al-Hareeri Stadium in Iraq today.The game kicks off at 4pm BDT.
After losing their first match 0-6 to Iraq, Bangladesh bounced back to defeat Kuwait 1-0 on Thursday to move to second position in the group. They will secure that position if they beat Pakistan today and Iraq beat Kuwait.
Bangladesh’s chances of qualifying for the AFC U-19 Championship 2014 in Myanmar are slim, even if they win today’s game. A total of 15 teams will qualify for the event from the nine qualifying groups – the nine group champions and six second placed teams - and several of the prospective runners-up in other groups are significantly better placed than Bangladesh on points and goal difference.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will be without the services of two key midfielders due to suspensions against Pakistan today. Skipper Hemanto Vincent is suspended after receiving a red card against Kuwait while Mezbah received two yellow cards.
Bangladesh head coach Rene Koster was confident of winning the game but warned against complacency. "Pakistan are a strong team and they are unlucky in their previous two games. This is their last chance to gain three points in this tournament. So, we know that they will try hard to win against us,” he said yesterday.
“We will miss two very good players in our midfield, Hemanto and Mezbah, but our team will play better to beat them. I promise everyone we will play our better game.
“We are positively developing in football. Most Important thing is some players showed the coaches that they are ready for the National Team," he added.
The Dutch coach was full of praise for his players, who beat Kuwait with after being reduced to 10 men. "Yesterday (Thursday) we played with 10 men against 11 of mighty Kuwait. They fought like tigers. This young team has very good mentality, maturity and very good team spirit. This is the attitude we want to see in every team of Bangladesh. They displayed their ability, determination, ball possession which we want them to play in every match."
