Agency :
Bangladesh will take on Maldives in their crucial second group B match of SAFF Championship scheduled to be held today at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India.
Bangladesh earlier suffered a 0-2 goal defeat against superior Lebanon in their group B opening match of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship and the red and green jersey holders must need point to stay in the championship race.
Head coach Javier Cabrera could make a few changes to his lineup here. Aminur Rahman Sajib could come in place of Sumon Reza as the striker, while Robiul Hasan is vying for a place in midfield. Another setback here could deal their progression hopes a mortal blow.
Bangladesh national football team’s captain Jamal Bhuyan sees their crucial group match against Maldives as final one.
“The match against Maldives is very important for us. This is our final match. One of our vice-presidents also said this and we are now only concentrating with the match against Maldives,” Jamal said, according to a video message received from Bangladesh Football Federation.
“I think we played good football against Lebanon, but we lost concentration in the last fifteen minutes and received two goals, overall we were happy for our performance,” said the Bangladesh skipper.
Replying to a question, Jamal said they are depressed of the result against Lebanon at the moment, but they want to forget the incident and focus Maldives match.
Bangladesh needs to score against Maldives to get point. Considering Bangladesh performance the footballers have little success to score in the international matches in the recent time.
Jamal said actually, everyone has to score goal, not just depending on the strikers.
One of the senior footballers of the team, Sohel Rana also agreed with Jamal’s opinion by saying that they must have to get point against Maldives to stay in the championship race.
On the other hand, Maldives beat Bhutan 2-0 in their first match. Hamza Mohamed opened the scoring for the Red Snappers from the penalty spot in the sixth minute before Naiz Hassan put the final nail in the Dragon Boys’ coffin in the 90th minute.
However, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Hassan Raif Ahmed was sent off for the Maldives, and he’s now suspended from the clash against Bangladesh.
