Dhaka, February 1 : Bangladesh faces Sri Lanka in a group A tie of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 5:00 pm on Monday. 

Bangladesh coach Lodewijk de Kruif said his players are ready to put the best. “The match is important for us, against Malaysia we lost 1-0, and the second one is important, we have the second chance, to get a good result against Sri Lanka so you can go to th second round, I want to mention i had some critics after Malaysia match but everyone will admit after Saturday's match that Malaysia is a good team, they are young, good and well organised. This match is very important not only for us but for the nation, it is a prestigious tournament, and we will try to move as far as we can, we are not thinking anything apart from a win” said de Kruif.

His counterpart Serbian Nikola Kavazovic vowed to fight. “Sri Lanka is a fighting team, they never surrender, Bangladesh will have hard time in the field, I am proud of my players who are working hard both physically and mentally. We are preparing to play the World Cup qualifiers where we will be playing against maybe Japan, Korea and other strong teams, we want to get ready for that” said Nikola.