Maldives eye victory in both friendlies

Maldives team arrived here on Monday to play two FIFA friendly matches against Bangladesh, with the hope of winning both matches following their return to international football after a year.

Since being eliminated by Bangladesh from the first round of World Cup Qualifiers with a 3-2 aggregate defeat in October last year, Maldives have not played an international fixture.

Besides, the provisional suspension of Football Association of Maldives president Basam Adeel Jaleel by FIFA in June last year saw the Maldives' Dhivehi Premier League not being held since the end of the last edition in December last year.

"You know that we have some problems back home, so we fell into a long gap of playing international matches," Maldives coach Ali Suzain told reporters following the team's arrival in the capital.

"So, we did not get much time to prepare, even though the players of Maziya SRC recently played in the AFC Challenge League," the 55-year-old coach added.

Despite a lack of preparation, the experienced coach expects to win both matches against Bangladesh, who are ranked 185th as opposed to 163rd-ranked Maldives.

"We will take to the ground to win both matches because we really need victory, especially since we are returning to international matches," said Suzain, who held the team's first training session in Dhaka yesterday afternoon.

Both teams are scheduled to hold their final practice sessions on Tuesday at the Bashundhara Kings Arena, which will host the two matches on November 13 and 16.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Football Federation informed that tickets for the first match will be available at Bashundhara branches of Social Islami Bank and Southeast Bank from today, with gallery tickets priced at Tk 300 and Tk 500 while VIP tickets are priced at Tk 800.