Booters battle Qatar heat ahead of Lebanon tie

The Bangladesh football team are trying to acclimatise to the scorching heat in Qatar, where they are set to take on Lebanon in their final match in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan on Tuesday.

Th charges of Javier Cabrera arrived in Al Rayyan on Saturday, fresh off their spirited performance against Australia, where they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Thursday.

The booters are charged up after the stern resistance they showed against the Socceroos but for now, adapting to the sweltering heat in Qatar is the biggest challenge for Cabrera's charges.

"The visiting team usually struggles to adapt to the weather so soon after arrival. The temperature in Qatar is about 45 to 48 degrees in the day, but it comes down to 36 degrees after the sun goes down.

"Adaptation is a challenge for the boys, but we are hopeful that the boys will adapt to the weather before the match against Lebanon," said assistant coach Hasan Al Mamun in an audio message sent by Bangladesh Football Federation.

Bishwanath Ghosh, who missed the tie against Australia due to suspension, is also optimistic about both adaptation and the outcome of the match.

"Very recently we had the similar weather in Bangladesh. I don't see much difference between the weather in Bangladesh and Qatar. We also don't want to focus on this issue, rather we have to start the work in a bid to realise our objective in Qatar," Bishwanath said.

"Our preparation is good because we came here after playing a big match against Australia. We might have lost the match but we are hopeful with the positive things we did in the Australia match. If we can repeat the performance against Australia, we can return home with something good from Qatar."

Bangladesh are currently at the bottom of Group I with just one point in five matches, which came from a draw against Lebanon in the first leg at the Bashundhara Kings arena last year.

The booters are targeting to secure at least one point in the second leg against Lebanon to end their campaign on a positive note.

"We want a win. Lebanon will also be wanting to win but our objective is to secure either full three points or at least one point in our last match of the World Cup Qualifiers," said Mamun.