The Bangladesh national hockey team faces off against Japan at the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia today for the right to play in Saturday’s fifth-place playoff.
Coach Naveed Alam went into the tournament targeting fifth or sixth place, which would grant his team an automatic spot in the next Asia Cup. Bangladesh can reach that goal with a victory today.
However, a surprisingly poor showing in the group stage, during which Bangladesh lost all three of their games and fell 4-2 to tournament debutants Oman, has left little hope that Bangladesh can produce an upset against Japan.
Bangladesh is currently ranked 31st in the world, 20 spots behind their heavily favoured opponents.
The winners will play in the fifth-place playoff against the team that emerges from the Oman-Chinese Taipei contest later today, while the losing teams will meet in the seventh-place match, also on Saturday.
-With New Age input
