Lebanon and Bangladesh will clash against each other in their opening Group B match of the 2023 SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Thursday.
Lebanon and Bangladesh will disaccord against each other in their opening Group B match of the 2023 SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium then on Thursday.
Aleksander Illicic’s Lebanon is the loftiest- ranked side in the SAFF Crowns and is one of the two nations, along with Kuwait, which has been invited to play in the event, despite not being a SAFF nation.
Lebanon will start as favourites against Bangladesh not only because of its superior quality on paper but also because the platoon has been under constant match practice courtesy of its participation in the lately concluded Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneshwar, where it lost 2- 0 to India in the final.
That being said, Illicic will know better than to be perfunctory. In the Intercontinental Cup, Lebanon plodded against the 183rd- ranked Mongolia and played out a 0- 0 draw. Bangladesh will look to take cons from that and churn out a positive result itself.
“We’ve come directly from the other event (Intercontinental Cup) that happed then in India. We’ve played a lot of games in a short span of time. Now, our job is to do our stylish and continue working like we did. It’s our first time in this event, but our main job is to get better as a platoon, and we will be using his event for that, ” said Illicic in thepre-tournament press conference.
Going by just rankings, it’s easy to negate the 192nd- ranked Bangladesh, but a bit of deep diving will show that it has a history of being resistant to advanced- ranked brigades and has endured players in captain Jamal Bhuyan, Sohel Rana, Eleta Kingsley, and Hemanta Biswas. In the 2021 SAFF Crowns itself, it held India to a 1- 1 draw in a group- stage game despite playing with a man down for the maturity of the alternate.
Bangladesh comes into the event after a 1- 0 palm against Cambodia.
“We need to start with a positive intelligence. Our players are ready, and there’s a lot of provocation and excitement, ” said Bangladesh head trainer Javier Fernández Cabrera.
Talking about whether Lebanon has an advantage against them due to its long stay in India and further game time, “ I suppose it’s time we concentrate on ourselves. Obviously, Lebanon has got a lot of game time, and it’s going to be a tough game for us, but we will be prepared, ” Cabrera added. Know More Latest Football News…
