Hosts Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka today in their second and final group match of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup hoping to reach the semi-finals as the Group A runners-up.
Earlier on Saturday, Malaysia Under-23s became the first side to book their place in the semi-finals as the Group A champions by winning both their group games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
To qualify for the semi-finals of the competition, the home side only needs a draw against Sri Lanka.
Both sides lost their respective matches against the Malaysia Under-23s, but Bangladesh are in a better position as they conceded fewer goals than their Sri Lankan counterparts.
Malaysian boys beat Bangladesh 1-0 in the opening match before romping to a 2-0 win over Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is the only match of the tournament where two national sides will compete, enabling the competition to getting Tier-A status from FIFA.
The head-to-head record of the two sides give Bangladesh an upper hand as they managed eight wins in their 13 minutes against three defeats and two draws.
Bangladesh tasted a 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in October 2014 in their last meeting to take the two-match series.
The first match ended in 1-1 draw at Jessore on October 24 but the hosts won the series with a narrow 1-0 win in Rajshahi three days later.
Bangladesh’s Dutch national team coach, Lodewijk de Kruif, sought support from local fans to repeat the success.
‘We need supports from the whole nation to play good football tomorrow [today],’ Kruif said during a press conference on Sunday.
‘Make the last-four is very important not only for us but also for the whole nation.’
De Kruif is hopeful that his charges will give their best to make the tournament successful.
‘It is a prestigious tournament and we will try to move as far as we can,’ he said.
De Kruif believes Bangladesh will start the game as favourites after watching Sri Lanka struggled against a well organised Malaysia team.
‘Against Malaysia, Sri Lanka were in a cat and mouse situation just after 10 minutes,’ said the Dutchman.
‘We saw the match and we analysed the whole game. We saw some good things and bad things and we discussed it during training.’
Bangladesh coach also brushed aside the suggestions that they will only play for a draw.
‘Taking the field with the approach of playing for a draw is difficult and dangerous,’ he said.
‘We will take the field to play good football and win the match.’
Meanwhile, the Serbian coach of Sri Lanka, Nikola Kavazovic, said his side will continue their fighting spirit and try to play some attractive football.
‘I would like to mention that there is no lack of motivation of beating the hosts,’ said a confident Kavazovic.
‘Sri Lanka are a fighting team, they never surrender, Bangladesh will have a hard time in the field.’
Kavazovic refused to take the match as revenge saying that, ‘We are not interested to take any revenge.’
‘We are focused to build a serious team and we have a one-year plan. So, our main focus is to play good in the World Cup per-qualifiers,’ said the Lankan coach.
-With New Age input
