Home ›› 05 Aug 2022 ›› Sport
After being runners-up in the last three editions, Bangladesh are eyeing their first SAFF U20 Championship title as they take on India in the final of the tournament in Bhuveneshwar, India on Friday.
Ahead of the final, head coach Paul Smalley and captain Tanvir Hossain both reiterated they were under no extra pressure to win.
While this is the first time a U20 tournament is held, similar tournaments were held in other age groups thrice. In 2015, it was U19; in 2017 and 2019, it was U18. On all three occasions, Bangladesh reached the final but failed to deliver the killing blow as they ended up as runners-up.
In their search for glory, Bangladesh will try to repeat their group stage match against India, which they won 2-1, courtesy of a brace from Mohammed Piash Ahmed Nova.
Bangladesh came into this tournament to reach the final. After that goal has been achieved, head coach Smalley believes the players should be applauded for their effort.
“I think everybody is excited. Everybody in the football community of Bangladesh is excited. The Federation is excited. The players should be congratulated and looking forward to playing India in the final,” he said.
Regarding the pressure of playing in a final, Smalley said that the team had dealt with various issues well thus far.
“Playing international football and representing your country is always pressure. Footballers of this level have to deal with the pressure. They have dealt with it well so far. We have come out of the group stage undefeated. We had difficult moments in games, but we have overcome that. We have had incidents and occurrences during the game and have dealt with them.
“We have dealt with a lot of challenges, and the players should be applauded. We have reached our objective, the final. Everybody is excited and looking forward to it,” he said.
Bangladesh skipper Tanvir said good things may happen if the team gave their all.
“We have reached the final according to our plan. We have beaten them 2-1 in the group stage. There is no pressure. If we can play the brand of football we have been playing in the tournament, and if the players give their all, then we might be able to do something good. Everybody is prepared and confident,” he said.
Bangladesh will be without midfielder Shahidul Islam in the final as he saw a red card in the final group stage match against Nepal. Smalley believes it is an opportunity for others to thrive.
“First and foremost, he (Shahidul) should be congratulated because he had a brilliant tournament. Unfortunately, these things happen in football. We will have to deal with it. We have got some depth in the squad to cover for him. And it allows somebody else to be involved in the final. We will overcome that, no problem. Everybody has a positive mindset,” he said.
Bangladesh will largely depend on Mirajul Islam and Nova for the goals as the former is leading the goal-scoring charts with four, and the latter has scored three.
The match will start at 7 PM BST.
