Five editions and 14 years have gone by since Bangladesh reached the knockout stage of the SAFF Championship.
Now, they are ready for another one as Bangladesh National Football Team will take on Lebanon in the first game of their 2023 SAFF Championship campaign in Bangalore today in hopes of breaking the curse.
Ahead of the tournament, Bangladesh trained in Dhaka, followed by a friendly in Cambodia, which they won 1-0, and then in Bangalore.
The Red and Greens will be facing the toughest opposition in their first match as Lebanon are ranked 99th in comparison to Bangladesh’s 192, and thus they have already turned defensive ahead of the game as both head coach Javier Cabrera and skipper Jamal Bhuyan said they were will be happy with a point.
“What we can promise is that the team will compete at 100%. The result does not depend only on us. Obviously, Lebanon are a very strong team and will do their best to get all three points. But we are ready to fight tomorrow (today) for at least one point,” Cabrera told the media on Wednesday.
“We have prepared well. Tomorrow is the final exam, which we want to pass. Of course, we want to win but we will be happy if we get a point as they are ranked 99th. We know it will be a tough match,” skipper Jamal spoke in a similar tone.
Their response probably comes due to the fact that their standout defender, Tariq Kazi, will not be available for selection today as he was sent off against Cambodia.
It is also expected considering the gulf in the FIFA rankings, although the head-to-head record is one win for each in the two games they faced off. Both matches were in 2011, part of World Cup qualification, where Bangladesh won the first leg at home 2-0 but lost 4-0 away.
While Bangladesh are coming into this match with only one match under their belt, which they won, Lebanon come with four in the last two weeks, where they won one, drew two, and lost one.
Ahead of the match, Jamal said they believe Lebanon would not be at peak match sharpness due to the frequency of games in the recent past, and they wanted to use it to their advantage.
“We know they have played four matches in the last 12 days because doing that is not easy, and there is an advantage for us there,” the Bangladesh skipper said.
Bangladesh have not had the best training in Bangalore as they have had to train on astroturfs instead of grass pitches but as per Cabrera, they have managed the workload of the players to ensure they do not get injured.
“It’s not the most convenient but there’s no other option. All the training facilities they have here are astroturfs. It’s always better to train than not train. We do less duration of practice and fewer exercises, we try to look after the players so that it does not have a very big impact,” he said.
Bangladesh, in their most recent game against Cambodia, tried out a 4-3-3 formation with Suman Reza playing as a false 9, shifting wide and trying to drag defenders.
Whether they will try to replicate a similar style against a strong opposition is a question, and how Bangladesh’s defence fares without Tariq is even a bigger one.
For now, Bangladesh’s goal is to qualify for the semis with their next two games against the Maldives and Bhutan. If they manage something against Lebanon, they will definitely take and run with it.
