Tough ask for booters

After having made it through to the knock-out rounds of the Asian Games for the first time, Bangladesh under-23 football team will be looking to make an impression against last edition’s runners-up North Korea tomorrow.

The match will kick off at 6:30pm Bangladesh time at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium in Bekasi.

Bangladesh have already achieved what they wanted to, and now the realistic target would be to take it as far as possible and perhaps a little end the campaign with heads held high.

Skipper Jamal Bhuiyan, whose 93rd-minute winner against Qatar pulled Bangladesh through to the knock-out rounds, admitted it will be a mighty task against the runners-up of last edition.

“It’s like a battle for us. We have confidence. We will not get many chances, but we will have to take whatever chances we get,” said the captain after team's practice session yesterday morning.

Coach Jamie Day knows North Korea will be a lot harder as opponents compared to the previous matches toughest team they face so far in this competition.

The runners-up from last edition showed a lot of spirit to bounce back from an opening game draw against Myanmar followed by a defeat to Iran with a 3-0 win against Saudi Arabia to move into the knock-out phase.

“We need to play better than we did against Qatar,” the coach said. “If we can be a bit more fresh in front of goal and bit more organised, we will have a chance in the game.”

Although there was no clear announcement, the team formation and strategy is not expected to be changed for the game.

Bangladesh have played North Korea three times in the 1980s, losing twice and drawing once. The North Korean national team is ranked 86 places higher than Bangladesh according to latest FIFA ranking.