Booters confident about win against Maldives

Inspired by the success of women's team, Bangladesh men's football team are looking to pull off a good result against visiting Maldives in the first of two FIFA Friendly matches at the Bashundhara Kings Arena today.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 6:00pm.

Nearly two weeks after Bangladesh defended their SAFF Women's Championship title, the women footballers are still the talk of the country's football fans. The fans will now expect a similar performance from the men's team against Maldives.

Coach Javier Cabrera and stand-in captain Topu Barman don't want to disappoint the countrymen while facing a strong Maldives side, who are 22 places ahead of Bangladesh in FIFA ranking.

"First, I want to thank the women's team for their achievement. Now it is our job, it is our opportunity at our home ground. We will definitely have to produce a good result and all the players have belief in brining good results. We have to win both matches against Maldives," Topu said at the pre-match press conference yesterday.

"The preparation has been good and we have had good practice matches against Fortis FC to prepare the boys for the Maldives matches. We are excited and everyone is looking forward and eager to play for our fans. We are very confident but we also have responsibility to deliver good performance and give our best performance in tomorrow's game. We are convinced about giving our best and win the match," said Cabrera, under whom Bangladesh beat Maldives twice, drew once and lost once.

In September, Bangladesh played two friendly matches against Bhutan in Thimphu in a bid to improving their FIFA ranking but their performances were not up to the mark as Cabrera's charges won the first match and suffered a defeat in the second.

Maldives team are gearing up for their first international match in over a year. Photo: BFF

Topu and Co will definitely face more challenge against Maldives but they will have the advantage of playing in front of their own crowd and in familiar environment where stronger teams like Australia and Palestine also struggled.

"These two matches are very important for us and the players have to prove themselves on the pitch. If we can apply our game plan correctly, we will win the match," hoped the centre-back.

Maldives head coach Ali Suzain said that they are confident about winning the match despite not having proper preparation since there has been no competitive tournament in Maldives for the last one year.

"Definitely Bangladesh are strong on this ground, which our players are also familiar with because majority of Maziya players have played here four to five times. It is a good pitch for passing and moving (the ball) and it will be advantageous to our players," said Suzain.