Booters brace for 'most important' challenge

Bangladesh national team are all set to face a stiff challenge following an impressive show in the recently concluded SAFF Championship in Bengaluru.

Everybody will be eager to see whether Javier Cabrera's charges can carry their good form when they face some superior opponents in their next two tough assignments: the upcoming Joint Qualifiers for 2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup after the 2023 Asian Games.

Following a draw held in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Bangladesh were pitted against familiar-yet-strong Maldives in a home-and-away basis Round-1 of World Cup and Asian Cup Qualifiers.

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan termed the pre-qualifiers encounters as "most important matches this year" for his side since crossing the Maldives' hurdle would open the gates for Bangladesh to enter next round where Australia, Palestine and Lebanon await.

"If we can qualify for the next round, the continuity of the international match will be maintained. It will be good for the country's football," Jamal told The Daily Star yesterday.

Maldives, 155th in FIFA Ranking, will remain favourites on paper against 189-ranked Bangladesh. They have been a South Asian rival who remained unbeaten against Bangladesh for 18 years before Bangladesh beat them twice in the last four meetings from 2021 to 2023, including a 3-1 win in their latest meeting at the SAFF Championship.

"I think it will be totally different than what happened in the SAFF Championship because it was a tournament but here, we have to play two back-to-back matches against them. So, it is totally different, the context is also different," Jamal warned.

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin had also warned the players about the consequence of any failure in pre-qualifiers; similar to what happened in 2016 when Bangladesh lost to Bhutan in the pre-qualifiers for 2018 World Cup.

Forward Rakib Hossain mentioned they cannot afford to be complacent but hold an "advantage" over the Islanders.

"We know the expectation is high at present, but there is no reason to take Maldives lightly despite a recent win against them. They are a really strong team, who might have had a bad day against us during the SAFF Championship," Rakib said.

"One advantage is that Maldives are familiar opponents and we will also play against them in the familiar ground, where a lot of our players have playing experience," said Rakib who, however, felt relieved in having avoided much stronger sides like Indonesia, Yemen, Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Olympic team, comprising three senior players along with U-23 squad, have been grouped alongside hosts China (80th in FIFA Ranking) and India (99) and Myanmar (160) following a separate draw held in China yesterday.

In the Asian Games, Bangladesh made it to the second round for the first time during the 2018 edition. This time around, Bangladesh announced a comparatively depleted squad due to players' commitments with Bashundhara Kings and Abahani in AFC Champions League and AFC Cup, respectively.