Bangladesh champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club wants to end the year on a high note when they take on K-League giants Busan I’Park in their one-off FIFA International club friendly match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today. The match is set to kick off at 5:00pm and Channel 9, a private television channel, will telecast the game live. Jamal will be beaming with confidence in the match after their superb performance in the Bhutan King’s Cup in November where they emerged triumphant without losing a game.
The Jamal coach Maruful Haque, who was recently exonerated from the six-month ban that the Bangladesh Football Federation imposed, promised the fans that his team would try to play an entertaining football.
The local fans failed to witness their King’s Cup glory as Bhutan did not telecast the tournament live.
‘The match is important to us for two reasons. First, we want to show the quality of our team to our fans, who could not watch us during the King’s Cup’, Maruf told reporters at the pre-match press conference on Friday.
‘And second, this match will be a great stage for players, who were in national team in the recent friendly against Japan Under-21 team, to rectify their errors,’ Maruf added.
Although Jamal are composed of 11 national team players, Maruf has put Busan, four-time K-League champions and one-time AFC Champions League champions, ahead of his side in terms of strength.
‘The average age of the team [Busan I’Park] is 24 and they have a group of skilled players,’ said Maruf.
‘As we know that the standards of the Korean football are far better than ours and they play regularly in the World Cup, it will be a tough task for us to play our natural game.
‘But we do not want to lose before taking to the field as my boys are fully focused and motivated to show some quality football to the home crowd,’ he said.
With three overseas forwards — Haitian Wedson Anselme, Nigerian Emeka Darlington and Gambian Landing Darboe — Maruf hinted that he would want his side to play with an attacking formation of 4-3-3 from the start.
Busan, on the other hand, showed their total respect to a side that they know a very little of.
‘We learnt that 11 players [of Jamal] play for the national team,’ said the Busan head coach Yoon Sung Hyo. ‘We also know that football is very popular in Bangladesh and it is improving day by day. We want to give our best to present an entertaining game tomorrow [Saturday].’
The Busan-based outfit, who are yet to win a K-League title after 1997 and won the Lunar New Year Cup in Hong Kong in 2013, are expected to start the game with a 3-5-2 formation, giving priority to attack from the very beginning.
‘We will play in our style, offensive that is,’ said the coach
Hyo also said that the current condition of Bangladesh was suitable for his side as they usually make their pre-season camp outside Korea because of freezing cold.
-With New Age input
