Booters eye redemption

The mood in the Bangladesh camp and that of their first match opponents, Afghanistan, couldn't have been any more contrasting on the eve of today's Group B fixture of the SAFF Cup. While the Afghans were causing a hubbub over organisational inefficiency, Bangladesh were trying to maintain a low profile while keeping their focus on the match against the defending champions.

The body language of the Bangladesh players and coaching staff betrayed the simmering resolve underneath the calm. They players feel this is their opportunity to regain the respect they used to garner from opposing teams even a few years ago. Bangladesh, however, can only blame themselves for having been sent packing from the group stages in the two previous editions, but they now have the opportunity for redemption if they can make a positive start here in Trivandrum.

Whether they can take advantage of the perceived lack of focus from the Afghans is a matter of posterity, but the mindset of the players and coaches is that they don't want to lose this match. Coach Maruful Haque felt this match was like a final and that a draw wouldn't be the worst outcome, even though they will start with the target to win.

"We will try to start with an attacking mindset because this match is very important for us and it is like a final. If we can win this match, the rest of the campaign will become get easier," the Bangladesh coach said. "We have assessed the strengths of the Afghanistan players. They are physically imposing and they are dangerous from set-pieces."

Maruful may adopt a similar strategy to the one against the Nepalese in their friendly fixture which Bangladesh won 1-0 a few days. Shahidul Alam Sohel is expected to wear the gloves in tomorrow's match while Monaem Khan Raju is all but certain to play in the position of Jamal Bhuiyan, who is yet to regain match fitness following an upset stomach followed by high fever which made him lose seven kilograms of weight. Striker Shakhawat Hossain Rony, who scored the winning goal against Nepal with an excellent glancing header, is likely to start.

Rony said he was mindful of the responsibility bestowed upon him and that he was looking forward to taking any chances which might come his way.

"A lot of things have been said regarding the absence of Emily bhai [Zahid Hasan]. It is our duty to make people realise that the others are good enough as well. The goal that I scored against Nepal has given me a lot of confidence and I would like to repeat the same if I get a scoring chance tomorrow," said the Sheikh Jamal centre-forward.

Skipper Mamunul Islam felt the recent fixtures against 'bigger teams' would stand them in good stead in this campaign. "We have recently played against teams like Australia, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan; so we are not afraid of Afghanistan. And our unbeaten record against them gives us confidence. If you compare the two teams, maybe they [Afghanistan] are just a bit ahead of us, but that can be overcome with a good performance," said Mamunul.

While Bangladesh lie at the bottom of their group in the World Cup qualifying campaign, Afghanistan have managed to avoid that fate with two wins over Cambodia. Afghan captain Faysal Shayesteh said the young and evolving side had no reason to fear anyone.

"A lot of changes in the side have come since our SAFF Championship win two years ago. Only two players remain from that side. But the current side, which is relatively young and mostly Europe-based, is quite good and we are confident about the match against Bangladesh," said the midfielder.

PROBABLE LINE-UP: Sohel, Yeasin, Nasiruddin, Nasirul, Munna, Mamunul, Raju, Sohel, Zahid, Hemanta, Rony. 

AFGHANISTAN V BANGLADESH
Kick-off: 7:00pm (Bangladesh Time)
Venue: Greenfield Stadium, Trivandrum
FIFA Ranking: Bangladesh 182, Afghanistan 150
Last Meeting:  1-1 (Dhaka, 2 June, 2015)