Bangladesh were hoping against hope as they started their preparation for the return leg of Asian Cup Qualification play off against Tajikistan on Sunday. The Central Asian side humiliated Bangladesh 5-0 in their home ground last week and will progress to the qualification round of the tournament unless there is any miracle in Tuesday’s return leg in Dhaka. Bangladesh must beat Tajikistan 6-0 to earn a spot in the qualification round for the tournament, scheduled in UAE in 2019.
‘If you say, is it possible to overcome from 0-5 defeat, I would say it is difficult,’ said coach Lodewijk de Kruif. ‘But in football everything is possible, though we need a magic for that.’
Bangladesh played out a 1-1 draw with Tajikistan when they hosted the side in June last year in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Kruif said the standard of Bangladesh national team has fallen in the past one year.
‘We drew against them 18 [12] months ago. Now the players are not as good as they were 18[12] months ago,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Football Federation played little attention to the debacle of the national team during its executive meeting on Sunday.
The BFF reshuffled 21 standing committees during the three-hour long meeting.
-With New Age input
