BD-Bhutan Match Preview
Dhaka, September 5: Bangladesh faces Bhutan in the AFC Asian Cup play-off 2 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 7:00 pm on Tuesday.
Both the coaches, Tom Sainfiet of Bangladesh and Pema Dorji of Bhutan expressed to win the match in the pre-match presser at the BFF House on Monday.
Bangladesh coach Tom Saintfiet
Bhutan will be happy with a draw and hence they will go for counter attack. I will be happy with a win no matter who the goal comes from. It will be nice if we don’t concede a goal. If its 1-0 I’m happy, if its 2-0 I’m more happy, if its 3-0 I’ll be even more happy. And we will need a win because going to Bhutan for the away match with that altitude will not be easy. We can’t attack blind because if we do so, Mr. Chencho Gyeltshen will be free and score, which will put us in deeper trouble.
We have a problem that we don’t have strikers. Most of the clubs have African strikers, and these mediocre African strikers play against clubs who have African centre-backs. So our defenders don’t develop and our strikers don’t develop too. I believe these strikers have the quality but they don’t develop because of lack of opportunity.
Bhutan coach Pema Dorji
We have seven players from Tatung FC which beat Sheikh Russel recently. Winning and losing is part of the game. Overall all of my players are confident. All the players are looking forward to tomorrow’s match against Bangladesh. We used to practice on artificial turf back home, but here the match will be held on grass. So it is very difficult for us. On top of that the pitch is very heavy. Bangladesh were playing with different tactics against Maldives, with most players defending. They might change their tactics for tomorrow’s match.
BD Squad:
Goalkeeper: Ashrafu Islam Rana, Sahidul Alam
Deffence: Md. Raihan Hasan, Monsur Amin, Topu Barman, Md. Atiquer Rahman Fahad, Razaul Karim, Ariful Islam, Mamun Miah, Anamul Haque Sharif
Midfield:, Atiqur Rahman Meshu, , Hemonta Vinsent Biswas, Jewel Rana, Didarul Alam
Emon Mahmud
Forward: Mehedi Hasan Tapu, Shakhawat Hossain Rony, Nabib Newaz Ziban, Mehebub Hasan Nayan, Rubel Miya, Md. Abdullah, Jafar Iqbal, Sohel Rana