Kathmandu, June 15: Bangladesh opens their AFC U-22 Championship Group D qualifiers against Host Nepal at the Dasharath Stadium, Kathmandu on Saturday.

Bangladesh will be facing a fierce challenge by the hosts but coach Syed Golam Jilanmi and skipper Shahedul Alam Shahed expressed high confidence of putting a good show in the official press meet held at Grand Hotel, about 15 kilometers away from the venue. 

Jilani banked upon the current form of players and hoped the team will produce the best. “All the players are fit and ready, they are focused to win the match with their best performance, all of them were playing in the league and they have the belief that they have the ability to win the match” said Jilani. 

“I have seven players who have played for the national team, I rely on their experience” said Jilani. 

Jilana was realistic about his chances. “Nepal and Yemen are the teams who are close to us in the FIFA ranking, that’s why we believe we can beat them, it may be not come easily but we have to fight it out” said Jilani who may opt for a 4-3-2-1 formation. 

Bangladesh team had the first sight of the venue on Friday evening and the training session lasted two hours. 

Nepal coach Krisha Thapa threw a strong challenge to his opponents. “In the recent past Nepal national team has a very good track record over Bangladesh national team and the U-22 team wants to continue the trend, may be Bangladesh is technically better but my boys are warhorses and they are playing in their home ground, we will win the match” said Krishna Thapa who played in the Dhaka league in the mid eighties. 

“There are four matches in the group and the equation is simple, win against Bangladesh and Yemen and draw against Uzbekistan and Jordan, I think it would be enough for moving to the final round” said Krishna.

The match will kick off at 6:10 pm Nepalese time.