Bangladesh will go into their friendly against Japan Under-21 team this week with a defensive mindset, coach Saiful Bari Titu said on Friday. Japan is sending a strong team to face Bangladesh in December 18 friendly, which is also the home side’s last chance to test their skills before the Bangabandhu Gold Cup starts in January. Though the team is only Japan’s Under-21, they preparing them to earn a medal in the 2016 Olympics.
The squad is currently visiting Thailand for a friendly match against their Thai counterpart, which will be held on December 14.
‘I’m preparing my side in a way so that we don’t concede many goals,’ Titu said. ‘For the last five days, I tried my team to adapt with the defensive formations of 4-5-1 and 5-4-1. Both the formations mean we will play counter-attack based football.’
Japan’s attacking prowess mostly comprised of talented players from J-League forced Titu to rethink his strategy.
Players said they are well informed of the plan.
Midfielder, Hemantha Vincent Biswas admitted that they are trying hard to adapt to the defensive game plan.
‘Our main goal is not to concede goals,’ Vincent told reporters.
‘Titu Bhai [coach] said us to put a brake on their speed first and take a chance form the counter attack,’ said the midfielder, who is nursing a hamstring injury he sustained during the buildup before the two-match friendly series against Sri Lanka in October.
Meanwhile, Japan under-21 coach Teguramori Makoto picked 21 players from different clubs of J-league.
Striker Yuya Kubo is the only player who is playing in Swiss club BSC Young Boys.
Japan, the only nation that brought their Under-21 team in the recent Incheon Asian Games, an Under-23 age-level meet.
They progressed into the quarter-final but failed to beat host South Korea.
Makoto said that the tour is very important for them.
‘We will start preparations for our goal – ‘change Japan’s football by winning a medal at the Olympics,’ coach Makoto said to the official website of Japan Football Association.
The qualifying round of the 2016 Olympic Games is scheduled to be held in Qatar in January 2016.
-With New Age input
