Bangladesh face Japan Under-21 in friendly match at BNS today
Bangladesh national football team will face Japan Under-21 team in a friendly match today, hoping to gain some experiences before January’s Bangabandhu Cup football.
The match, which will be held at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu National Stadium, will start at 5:00pm and will be broadcasted live by private channel, Channel 9.It is the last competitive match for Bangladesh before they play in the six-team Bangabandhu Gold Cup at home.
Naturally the hosts are enthusiastic about the game as they believe playing against the youth Japanese side, who are building the team for next Olympics, will give them some extra confidence.
Coach Saiful Bari Titu has apparently changed his mind over playing strategy and decided to follow customary 4-3-3 format.
Titu earlier drew flak from the Bangladesh Football Federation high-ups for saying that he would prefer a defensive 5-2-2-1 formation as he believed that Japanese are much stronger than Bangladesh.
Speaking to reporters in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Titu said he will stick to the routine formula and will only change it only if the situation obliges him.
‘Tomorrow [today] I’m hoping the boy’s will play an entertaining match,’ said interim coach Titu.
‘I like to see huge crowd coming to the field to support us and we will repay them with entertaining football.’
Titu claimed that his side is more experienced and matured than the visitors and he wanted to forget the difference between the two sides in the rankings.
‘One positive thing is that we are experienced and matured than them,’ he said, adding that they must concentrate on ball possession.
‘We defend well but when we get the ball we fail to keep it in our control, lose the possession,’ he said.
‘In the preparation camp we worked hard to solve the problem. Also we worked on set-pieces that always pose a danger for us,’ he said.
Captain Mamunul Islam, who joined the national team just three days before, was hoping to pull off a surprise result.
‘If we play our best and follow the coach’s instruction we can get surprising result,’ he said.
Japan coach Teguramori Makoto hoped his team will continue their form in the today’s match what they showed in the Thailand.
Before coming to Bangladesh the young Japan team beat their Thailand counterparts 2-0.
‘We want to play the match just like we played in the last game in Thailand,’ said former Japanese internationals Makoto before his side sweated out for more than an hour in a training session at the BNS.
‘My team is trying hard to cope with the condition and it’s always difficult to play an away match but good thing is that the boys are enjoying the whole situation,’ he said.
‘This tour is very important for my team before the Olympic Games qualifiers and the players are eager to prove them to keep their spot safe,’ said the Japanese coach, who admitted that he hasn’t have enough idea about the strength of Bangladesh team.
‘My assistant coach did some homework about Bangladesh, I think they will also eager to play a competitive match against us,’ he said.
The Bangladesh Football Federation offered a complementary BFF development lottery ticket with each VIP entry ticket in bid to woo the crows to watch the game.
-With New Age input
