FIFA, AFC Qualifiers: Bangladesh to play India Tuesday

Bangladesh National Football team will play against India National Football team in their third group match of the Joint Qualification of the FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 against upper-ranked India on Tuesday  (Oct 15) at the Salt Lake Stadium Yuba Bharati in Kolkata.

The match will kick-off at 7:30 pm (BdST).                                               

In a pre-match press-conference on Monday at Novotel Kolkata Hotel, Bangladesh Head Coach Jamie Day said they are very confident and want to take chances to score in the match.

"We have to play well, we have to take chances. Most of our players are from U-23 team. They have to take chances to score goal in tomorrow's game against India. We have to work hard on this for last three or four months," Jamie said. 

"Obviously, India has to play well to win. But I believe that if we play well tomorrow, we may get good result," he added.      

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan said, "This is a big game but the pressure is on the Indian team. We are not feeling any pressure at the moment. Our entire squad is  ery excited and looking for tomorrow's game."

On the other hand, Indian Head Coach Igor Stimac said, "Our players have already proved themselves. We have showed that we can play against anyone. In the first two games, we were not favourites. But, now the whole pressure is on us. We have to win this game."

"Bangladesh did very good against Qatar. They created more chances. They have come here to win the match," Stimac added.

Bangladesh, who was put on Group E of the AFC Cup with Qatar, Oman, neighboring India and Afghanistan, are yet to open their account.  

The men in red and green started their campaign with a 0-1 goal defeat against Afghanistan in their first match in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on September 10 and conceded a 0-2 goals defeat against Asian Champions Qatar in their second match in Dhaka on October 10.

In the remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Oman on November 14 in Oman, Afghanistan on March 26 next year in Bangladesh, Qatar on March 31 in Qatar, India on June 4 in Bangladesh and Oman on June 9 in Bangladesh.

On the other hand, India are now in 4th slot of the point table securing 2 points from two matches with one draw and one defeat.

India started their campaign conceding 1-2 goals defeat against Oman in their first match in Guwahati on September 5 but played out a goalless draw (0-0) against Qatar in their second game in Doha on September 10.

Bangladesh are currently in the 41th in AFC and 187th in FIFA rankings, while India are 18th in AFC and 104th in FIFA rankings. 

Bangladesh team: Shahidul Alam Sohel, Ashraful Islam Rana, Anisur Rahman, Pappu Ahmed, Rahmat Mia, Yeasin Khan, Bishwanath Ghosh, Riyadul Hasan, Yeasin Arafat, Tutul Hosain Badsha, SM ManjururRahman, Raihan Hasan, Jamal Bhuiyan, Rabiul Hasan, Mamunul Islam Mamun, Sohel Rana, Biplu Ahamed, Arifur Rahman, Mohammad Ibrahim, Towhidul Alam Sabuz, Mahbubur Rahman, Matin Miah, Nabib Newaz Jiban, Saad Uddin and Jewel Rana.

India team: Gurpreet Singh, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Adil Khan, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Manvir Singh, Nikhil Poojari, Udanta Singh, Mandar Dessai, Rowllin Borges, Brandon Fernandes, Vinit Rai, Narendra, Kamaljit Singh, Amrinder Singh, Subhasish Bose, Pritam Kotal, Anas Edathodika, Muhammed Ashique Kuruniyan, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Balwant Singh.