Bangladesh up for Maldives challenge

Taking inspiration from their 3-1 win against Maldives in June's SAFF Championship, Bangladesh will look for a positive result against the same opposition in their away match of the preliminary round of the World Cup Qualifiers today.

The match will get underway at 5:00pm (Bangladesh time) at the Male National Stadium, a venue where Bangladesh suffered defeats in all three matches they played between 2016 and 2022.

With some bold performances in the SAFF Championship and in friendly matches against Afghanistan as well as close contests in the Asian Games, Bangladesh will certainly be hoping to return home with at least a point against Maldives. Coach Javier Cabrera, however, is aware of the danger that can come from the Maldives team, who had beaten Bangladesh 2-0 in his first international assignment as Bangladesh coach in 2022.

"After the SAFF Championship and the Afghanistan games, we are probably in our best moment of confidence. But we'll have to remember that we are overconfident against Maldives, we will get punished," Cabrera said at the pre-match press conference in Male yesterday.

"We know Maldives very well. We know what they are capable of. We are confident in our game but we are very aware of what we are facing tomorrow (Thursday). With a lot of respect to the Maldives team, hopefully we will get the result tomorrow (Thursday) and continue growing and growing," the coach added.

The 39-year-old coach also relayed the ultimate goal of his charges as he knows of the consequence of a result against Maldives, who are 34 places ahead of Bangladesh in FIFA ranking.

"The first objective is to qualify (for the World Cup Qualifiers) because if we qualify, we will face very strong teams where there will be challenges for us to become a better team," said Cabrera.

Although Bangladesh beat Maldives in their latest meeting, it was the Maldivian club Maziya SRC that got the better of Bangladesh champions Bashundhara Kings in the AFC Cup recently, with both teams boasting a number of national team players.

Captain Jamal Bhuiyan is also determined to deliver in front of a crowd that is expected to feature a lot of Bangladeshi expatriates.

"There is a positive vibe because there are a lot of Bangladeshi people in Maldives who want to support our team. At the same time, it's the Maldives' home ground. So, the vibe and the atmosphere's going to be tough. So, it's up to the players to perform on the field and we'll have to deliver tomorrow," said Jamal.

In absence of experienced goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico, defender Tapu Barman and promising forward Sheikh Morsalin, who were all part of Bangladesh's SAFF Championship campaign, Cabrera is likely to pick goalkeeper Mitul Marma, who had a good campaign in the Asian Games. The Spaniard is also likely to choose between Rahmat Mia and Saad Uddin in defence and forward Faisal Ahmed Fahim and Suman Reza in attack.