Bangladesh dreaming of humbling Lebanon

With the curtain falling down on Group I fixtures of the second round of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers today, Bangladesh are looking forward to securing all three points against superior Lebanon, an outcome which will give the men in red and green a better draw in the upcoming Asian Cup Qualifiers.

The game is set to kick off at 10:00pm(Bangladesh Standard time) at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al-Rayyan City, Qatar.

Bangladesh are dwelling in the bottom of the four-team group, with only one point in five matches, two points less than third-placed Lebanon. This means a win will enable Bangladesh in surpassing Lebanon, following a 1-1 draw at Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka last year where Sheikh Morsalin cancelled out a 67-minute Osman strike in the 72nd minute.

Nevertheless, securing a victory over Lebanon is going to be an uphill task for the charges of head coach Javier Cabrera, who, however, are thinking of pulling an upset against a side Bangladesh had beaten 2-0 in Dhaka in 2011, during the pre-qualifying match of 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. In the remaining meets between the two teams, Lebanon have been victorious.  

Lebanon, on the other hand, will surely hope to end their campaign on a high, but Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan wants to capitalise against a reconstructing team under a new coach in Mirodrag Radulovic.

"Our goal is to secure three points against Lebanon, which is a big challenge. We will be trying to give our best because everyone believes we can collect three points," Jamal said in a video message sent by Bangladesh Football Federation.

"Lebanon changed three coaches in a year. If the coach is often changed, the structure falls down, and we discussed this thing. We also discussed their strong and weak points. So, if we can exploit those areas, then it's going to be a positive result for us."

Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera said, "We expect to be very competitive tomorrow [today], we came from a good effort and performance against Australia. We know that to complete a good window and quite a good group stage, we want to get a positive result. Our objective is to fight for everything, fight for three points and hopefully achieve at least one point in the last game.

"The motivation is not only to produce good results but also it will have an important impact on the ranking, that will also be decisive for the draw for upcoming Asian Cup Qualifiers. It is also important to get points, also for the 2025 SAFF Championship," the Spaniard added.