‘Nothing to lose, much to gain’

With the FIFA World Cup Qualifying tie against hosts Qatar being dubbed as a match where Bangladesh will have to limit the damage after months of inactivity due to the coronavirus pandemic, local coach Saiful Bari Titu believes keeping the margin respectable will also be a tough task in today's match at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha.

"Of course, keeping the margin to a respectable level is also a difficult task for Bangladesh because everything was in our favour in Dhaka [in the first leg in October 2019] with a wet pitch and the Cosco ball. But you can't compare Dhaka's Qatar and Doha's Qatar," the AFC A-licensed coach told The Daily Star. "There is actually nothing to take from the Dhaka match because it was played a year ago. The boys should forget the 0-2 loss and keep in mind that they have nothing to lose against the Asian champions, but many things to achieve."

Mentioning four aspects -- fitness, technique, tactics and psychology – that will be factors in the match, the 48-year-old coach stressed on the need for Bangladesh's defence to be consistently watertight in today's match to keep Qatar at bay.

"The players have to utilise four things -- fitness, technique, tactics and psychology -- at optimum level. We can expect Qatar to play the pressing game against Bangladesh, so it is very important to have technique as well as good tactical knowledge. In this regard, a great challenge lies ahead of Bangladesh in that a lot of balls will come into Bangladesh's half and it is important to defend really well and not allow Qatar to play in the gap between the defence line and the midfield line," Titu suggested.

"So, it is very important to stay close the gap between the two lines -- defence and midfield."

The Sheikh Russel coach also believed that the players must implement the game plan to perfection to resist Qatar.

"If you give Qatar space in between the two lines, they won't hesitate to punish Bangladesh. It is also equally important to distribute the responsibility among the players -- who will go forward to press, who will mark the players and how long it will last," he added.

However, there are serious concerns over how long the boys in red and green can resist 59th-ranked Qatar, especially in light of the shortcomings in fitness and stamina of the Bangladeshi players following a seven-month coronavirus-induced break.

"In terms of fitness, Qatari players may have an advantage but if you have some ball possession, then you get less tired. So, you also need to have some ball possession to thwart their [Qatar's] efforts. Besides, if the humidity in Doha is less than Dhaka, the players will sweat less and have some energy to stop Qatar," said Titu.