Sports Reporter :
After thrashing favourites Maldives by 3-1 goals in the second Group-B match, highly spirited Bangladesh Football team will take on Bhutan in their last crucial Group-B match of the SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Begaluru of India today. The match will kick-off at 8.00pm (Bangladesh Standard Time) . Private satellite sports channel T Sports will telecast the match live. Before this match, strong Lebanon will face Maldives today at the same venue. The match will start at 4.00pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). To mark the very important match, members of Bangladesh Football team took part in their practice session at Bengaluru on Tuesday.
According to latest FIFA ranking, Bhutan have taken the 185th position, while Bangladesh have taken 192nd spot.
But before today’s match, Bangladesh and Bhutan faced each other in five games of SAFF Championship. Of them, Bangladesh won four matches and rest of the one match ended in a draw.
It may be mentioned that, hosts India and stronger Kuwait have already confirmed their semi-finals berth from Group-A.
Bangladesh lost to Lebanon by two goals to nil in their first Group-B match on June 22. Bangladesh restricted Lebanon to a 2-0 loss in the first half. But later, they conceded two goals in the second half due to the mistakes of their defenders.
Later, Bangladesh bounced back and earned a historic victory against Maldives. In 2003, Bangladesh defeated Maldives and clinched the SAFF Championship title. After 20 years, Bangladesh thrashed Maldives.
On the other hand, Bhutan conceded a 0-2 goals defeat to Maldives in their first Group-B match on June 22.
Bhutan suffered a 1-4 goals defeat to Lebanon in their second Group-B match on June 25. Though Bhutan tasted two consecutive defeats but they presented a better brand of football against their stronger opponents.
If Maldives lose to Lebanon and Bangladesh make a draw with Bhutan, Bangladesh will enter the semi-final. If Maldives draw with Lebanon, and Bangladesh draw with Bhutan, the semi-finalist will be decided, which team score more goals than their opponents.
If Maldives lose to Lebanon or draw with Lebanon and Bangladesh beat Bhutan, Bangladesh will reach the ‘Last Four’.
If Maldives and Bangladesh win their respective last Group-B match, Bangladesh, Maldives and Lebanon will earn six points. In that case, the two semifinalists will be decided, which team score many goals. In that case, Lebanon are better position as they score many goals than the other two teams. If Lebanon lose to Maldives in a large margin, and Maldives score many goals than Bangladesh, Maldives will reach the ‘Last Four’.
Besides, there are many equations for the four teams to finalise the two semi-finalists.
After the practice session, Captain of Bangladesh Football team Jamal Bhuyan said, ” I don’t think about the equations. We know, we have to win. We are hungry to move into the semi-finals. All of us need it. We have a golden chance. Now everything is depends of us and we have to play a better brand of football.”
