Bangladesh face Malaysia in FIFA ASEAN Cup today
Bangladesh will face Malaysia in their first match of the FIFA ASEAN Cup in their opening group A fixture scheduled to be held at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia today.
The match kicks off at 3pm Bangladesh time.
Although the opponent holds the advantage in terms of rankings and strength, Bangladesh national team Coach Thomas Dooley doesn’t view the match merely as a tough challenge.
He sees it as a significant opportunity to test the team’s capabilities and prepare for the upcoming SAFF Championship.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference on Thursday, Thomas Dooley said the tournament would provide valuable preparation ahead of the SAFF Championship at home in November.
“We are very happy to be part of this tournament. It’s a big challenge for us, but we’ve always wanted to test ourselves against stronger teams.
Our big target coming up is the SAFF, which we’ll host at home in November, so this tournament is a very good opportunity for us to prepare for that,” Dooley said.
Dooley acknowledged that matches against Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia would be difficult, saying Bangladesh would have to be realistic about their chances.
“We know where we stand. I know many fans back home in Bangladesh may expect us to come here and beat everyone, but football doesn’t work that way,” he said.
The coach said the tournament would also be an opportunity for Bangladesh to learn from their mistakes and use that experience in their upcoming matches, particularly in the SAFF Championship.
“We weren’t even supposed to be part of this tournament at the beginning, so we’re very happy to have received the invitation. We know we’re the underdogs, but in football anything can happen,” he said.
Dooley said Malaysia would approach the match with a similar mentality to Bangladesh when facing a lower-ranked opponent.
“We have to be realistic: getting a good result against Malaysia will be very difficult, but we’ll give everything we have,” he said.
Bangladesh Captain Jamal Bhuyan said the players were looking forward to the three matches against Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
“We know it’s going to be tough, but we believe in ourselves and have confidence in the team,” Jamal said.
“We want to compete and play good matches. As the coach said, this is like a preparation tournament for us because in one month’s time we have another tournament, which is our ultimate goal.”
“But, of course, as a team, we want to compete. If we can get a couple of points, maybe a win or two, that would make this a very successful tournament for us,” he added.
The red and green brigade will then face Singapore on September 28 at the same venue and time before taking on hosts Indonesia in their final group-stage match on October 1 at 6:30 pm Bangladesh time.
