Bangladesh U23 football team left here yesterday for Kuwait to play their away match of the pre-Olympic qualifying round with a hope of putting up a good show despite the fact that Robert Rubcic got little time to prepare his charges due to the domestic league.
Bangladesh, who are ranked 157th in latest FIFA rankings, take on 101st ranked Kuwait on Wednesday and will later host them on March 9 in Dhaka.
“Kuwait are better than us both technically and tactically but we will play our game based on counter-attacks and try to play our best football,” said assistant coach Safiul Bari Titu on the eve of the departure yesterday.
Bangladesh’s senior side have so far played twice against their Kuwaiti counterparts and lost both on occasions. The first defeat was in 1973 by 2-1 margin while the second one was a 4-0 defeat in 1986.
SQUAD
Nehal, Sahidul Alam, Saikat Bhowmik, Touhidul Islam Siddique, Mohammad Yusuf, Touhidul Alam Sabuj, Mithun Chowdhury (captain), Alamgir Kabir Rana, Chomrin Rakhain, Monaem Khan Raju, Shahedul Alam, Habibur Rahman Sohag, Naimur Rahman, Mohammad Linkon, Mintu Sheikh, Yamin Munna, Uttam Kumar and Shahkawat Hossain Rony.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
