Match against Nepal, focus on Hong Kong

Bangladesh will look to fine-tune their preparations for October's Asian Cup Qualifiers against Hong Kong as they take on Nepal in the first of two international friendlies at the Dasharath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu on Saturday, with the match is scheduled to kick off at 5:45pm Bangladesh time.

"Our focus is to prepare as well as possible for the matches against Hong Kong," said Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera during a pre-match press conference on Friday. "What we are really thinking about is how we can improve on our last performance against Singapore and how we can perform at our best against Hong Kong in October."

Recalling his previous experience of playing against Nepal in 2022, Cabrera said, "I think it's always difficult for Bangladesh to play here in Kathmandu. My only experience here was in September 2022, and we were trailing 3-0 at half-time (eventually lost 3-1). So that was quite tough. We expect another tightly contested match, but we believe we are going to perform better this time. Although the pitch is not in ideal condition, hopefully it doesn't rain on match day. If the weather holds, we'll be able to put on a good show."

The Spaniard admitted that the team's preparation has been far from ideal, with only half of the squad available for nearly 20 days before 10 players from Bashundhara Kings joined the camp just two days prior to their departure for Nepal. Bangladesh also played two closed-door warm-up matches against Police FC, which featured Nepal national team captain and goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Limbu -- a move that raised questions about Cabrera's planning ahead of facing Nepal. However, the head coach defended the decision, saying, "It wasn't so much about confidentiality, but rather about finding the right context for the team to focus on the concepts we were training."

Read more

No Hamza, Shamit as booters reach Nepal after seven-hour flight delay

Despite the absence of players such as Hamza Choudhury, Shamit Shome, Fahamedul Islam, and several under-23 players currently competing in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Vietnam, Cabrera remains optimistic. "Many players are not here, but to be very honest, we competed at a very high level a few months ago with 95 percent of this current squad. Most of them are U-23 players who delivered fantastic performances against teams like Lebanon, Palestine, and even Australia. I would still say we've brought our A team, though some people may call it a B team. We are expecting a tough competition here."

Nepal's Australian head coach, Matt Ross, also said that their focus was on preparing for the upcoming Asian Cup Qualifiers, but stressed the importance of making a strong statement on home soil -- especially after their disappointing 2-1 defeat to Laos in their last qualifier.

"I know our boys are really looking forward to these games, which will be closely contested," said Ross. "We talk a lot about preparation for the next AFC Qualifiers, but when the whistle goes, it's about those 90 minutes. We're desperate to show that our performance against Laos was not up to our standards. The boys are 100 percent ready to show that we are here to win and continue the progress we've made over the last few months."