After a hard-fought 1-0 win over Afghanistan U-23s in their first match, Bangladesh Under-23 national football team face an uphill task when they take on mighty Uzbekistan in their second Group A match at the Ansan Wa Stadium in Incheon today. The match will kick off at 5:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time. Uzbekistan, who are ranked 51st in the FIFA world rankings and third ranked side in the Asian zone only behind Japan and Iran, played out a 1-1 draw with Hong Kong in their first match, will take the Bangladesh match very seriously.
On the other hand, Bangladesh, who are ranked 36th in Asia and 170th in the world, have never beaten Uzbekistan in their past four meetings.
And in the last edition of the Asiad in Guangzhou 2010, Bangladesh were hammered 3-0 by the Uzbeks. And when the national teams of both the countries met three times in the past, Uzbekistan strolled past the Bangladeshis on all the occasions.
But the first match win over Afghanistan on Monday is giving an extra motivation to the Bangladeshi players ahead of the Uzbekistan clash.
‘Though Uzbekistan are the favourites, we will take the field to earn points. They [Uzbekistan] are far better side than us in the FIFA rankings but we will try to give our best,’ said midfielder Sohel after a light training session at the Goyang Stadium practice ground.
‘In the Afghanistan match our goal was to earn full three points but now we are only thinking to restrain them for 90 minutes. To obtain points from tomorrow’s [today] game, we have to play as a unit, like what we did against Afghanistan,’ added Sohel.
Young right-back Raihan Hasan, who played a defender in the first match in place of injured Atiqur Rahman Meshu, thinks that if they want to earn something against Uzbekistan, they will have to defend even better than the Afghanistan game.
‘The main reason for our win against Afghanistan was our impressive defending, but against Uzbekistan our responsibility will be higher, we will have to be almost flawless in defence to earn something against them,’ said Raihan.
Meanwhile, de Kruif hinted a slight change in his line-up as he might opt for another defender by sacrificing a midfielder.
During training de Kruif had a close look at right-winger Zahid Hossain, who joined the team as a replacement for Meshu, and he could give him a chance today.
-With New Age input
