Bangladesh national football team, eyeing to win the home match of the join qualifiers of the Asian Qualification Round-1 and the FIFA World Cup 2026 will take on Maldives at Bashundhara Kings Arena Stadium today.
The match will kick off at 5:45pm (BST) when the Ticket will be available at the Premier Bank Limited, Motijheel and Bashudhara branches. VIP tickets will be sold for Taka 500, Category One Tk 200 and Category 2 for Tk100. The first match of the competition took place between two teams in Male on October 12 when in the last five minutes thrillers, the match was drawn by 1-1 goal.
Bangladesh will have to win the today’s match to move into the second round, there will be not any advantage of away goal, if the match would end on a draw then there will be 30 minutes extra time, and if the extra time game would also end on a draw, then the result will be decided by tie breaker.
However, Men in Red and Green are ready to take the challenge of Maldives at their home ground when the captain Jamal Bhuiyan determined to deliver their all out efforts in front of the home crowd to win the match.
Coach Javier Cabrera’s side is keen to win the game in home. Mitul Marma, the young custodian of the Bangladesh team, who made his international debute at the away ground, displayed some excellent perform under the bar with making some good saves in Males.
Javier Cabrera, who was not satisfied with the result of the first leg, but was at least had a relief with the last moments equalizer by Saad Uddin. “It feels good to draw because Maldives are very strong side at their home. They played very attacking game at their home. In the first leg match in male, they created some good chances but we also had some easy opportunities, even we could win the match also. They took the lead and finally we had the equalizer at the end,” he added.
Bangladesh now is thinking nothing but to win the home match to ensure the second round.
Players are very much positive and looking forward to win and their forwards will have to focus on their duty to score goals.
Saaduddin, once was forward, now turned into a defender rescued the team when they conceded goal in the 87th minute. Saaduddin came on as a substitute in the 89th minute and scored the equalizer in the second minute of five minutes added time.
Bangladesh faced Maldives in the group stage in the last SAFF Championship held in India.
Cabrera’s sides won over Maldives by 3-1. The recent performances of Bangladesh team are encouraging as they won two matches in last four meetings against the Maldives since 2021, featuring a 3-1 victory in the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru last June.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is playing the match without some of their vital players, like, number one goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Ziko, defender Tapu Burman, forwards Sheikh Morsalin, Rimon Hossain and Touhidul Alam Sabuj, who were ruled out for the allegation of carrying drugs.
