Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in a must-win encounter if they are to book a place in the semi-final of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are coming off a loss to Malaysia 2-0 and 1-0 respectively. Both sides were lucky not to concede more goals as luck and brilliant goalkeeping kept the score lines respectable.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are no strangers to each other where Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh for two friendlies at the end of last year. Sri Lanka drew the first match 1-1 and lost the next 1-0 amidst 30,000 fans, an atmosphere this young squad had ever experienced.
Talking exclusively to ThePapare.com Sri Lanka Coach Nikola Kavazovic was feeling hopeful but admitted that the squad is plagued with injuries and tiredness.
“No change of tactics. Same system as we played against Malaysia. We played them a few months back, but since then, a lot of things have changed. We are finishing a long, hard and poorly organized calendar season, while their season begins in 10 days and they are perfectly physically prepared.”
“Our players feel tired and lots of them are under question. Nalaka Roshan, Thilina Bandara, Rifnaz, De Silva most probably will not played, so is Sanjeewa.” Kavazovic added talking about his limited options for the match.
Bangladesh’s Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif said his charges have been doing well and they are eager for the next match.
“They (boys) felt sorrow for the defeat against Malaysia but hopefully we can do better against Sri Lanka,” said de Kruif after training.
“In a group stage, we are very lucky to have the second chance. The first chance against Malaysia we did not take. Now we have the second chance against Sri Lanka and everyone wants to capitalise on that chance and win the three points that we need. So we will fight for it,” said a confident coach.
Scoring has always been a headache for Bangladesh in international matches and there was no exception with hit-man Zahid Hasan Emily failing to cash in on some brilliant crosses from winger Zahid Hossain against Malaysia.
“If we can’t score, we can’t win. To be honest, we were in trouble with scoring since I came here. May be it (scoring) is about mentality. As a coach, what I can do is work on it, train on it and give the guys as much as confidence they need. So we can change the situation,” opined the 46-year coach.
In practice yesterday, de Kruif swapped striker Shakhawat Hossain Rony with Emily and a source closed to the team hinted that there would be upto three changes in the match against Sri Lanka.
