We want to gift countrymen a win on Independence Day: Jamal

Bangladesh football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan said that he wants to gift the countrymen a victory over Palestine on the Independence Day in their home leg match of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers tomorrow at the Bashundhara Kings Arena.

"It is a special day for Bangladeshi people and we want to give a gift to them. Of course, we want to win it," Jamal told the reporters today.

Smarting from a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Palestine in Kuwait, Bangladesh are hoping against hope to secure some points against the same opponents tomorrow.

The match will kick off at 3:30 pm and T Sports will telecast the match live.

On March 21, Bangladesh suffered their biggest ever defeat against Palestine which was also their sixth straight loss against the opponents after the first meeting between the two sides had ended in a 1-1 draw in 2006 in the AFC Challenge Cup in Dhaka.

Bangladesh had managed to keep a clean sheet till the 42nd minute of the match but conceded twice in space of four minutes to go into half-time trailing 2-0.

Coach Javier Cabrera's charges couldn't keep up in the second half against the technically and physically superior Palestine team, who are ranked 97th in the FIFA rankings, and conceded three more goals without giving any back.

"We need to think forward and that's why we can't be negative. We need to be realistic and responsible. We lost 5-0 but we can do better [tomorrow]."