FIFA, AFC qualifiers: Bangladesh to play Afghanistan Thursday

FIFA, AFC qualifiers

Dhaka – Bangladesh National Football team will play against Afghanistan in the Group 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers Thursday.  

The match will start at 8pm Bangladesh time at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. T-Sports and Gazi TV will telecast the match live.

In the remaining two Group E qualifiers, Bangladesh will play against India on June 7 at 8pm and Oman on June 15 at 11pm, both at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Ahead of Thursday's vital match, the Bangladesh team spent a busy time Wednesday. They took part in a half-an-hour gym session at the hotel in the morning, addressed a press conference in the afternoon before leaving for the final practice session at the Qatar University Ground in the late afternoon.

Afghanistan and Bangladesh faced each other eight times; both teams won two matches each and the remaining four ended in a draw.

Bangladesh booters, who conceded 0-1 defeat against Afghanistan in their away group match in Tajikistan's Dushanbe, are optimistic to beat their rivals Thursday.

Afghanistan have played two practice matches against Indonesia and Singapore national teams and also started preparations in Qatar a few days ahead of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh team missed a five-day visit to Saudi Arabia for training and to play a couple of warm-up matches as they failed to manage the necessary quarantine exemption letter from Saudi Arabia in time. They had to prepare themselves at home before the heavyweight meet.

Earlier, Bangladesh started their FIFA and AFC joint qualifiers campaign with a 0-1 defeat against Afghanistan, a 0-2 loss against Asian champions Qatar in Dhaka, a 1-4 defeat against Oman, and a humiliating 0-5 loss against Qatar in Doha.

However, the booters earned a 1-1 draw against India in Kolkata.

In the five-team Group E, Qatar are now comfortably leading the points table, securing 16 points from six matches while Bangladesh have hit the rock bottom with one point from five matches. Among others, Oman have secured 12, Afghanistan 4 and India 3 points from five matches.

24-member Bangladesh squad

Goal Keeper: Md Shahidul Alam, Rasel Mahmud and Anisur Rahman Zico

Defender: Md Rahmat Miya, Topu Barman, Riyadul Hasan, Yeasin Arafat, Rimon Hossain, Mehadi Hasan, Habibur Rahman Shohag, Tariq Raihan Kazi and Mohammad Emon

Midfielder: Jamal Bhuyan, Mohammad Abdullah, Masuk Miya Zoni, Sohel Rana, Biplu Ahmed, Md Matin Miah, Rakib Hossain, Manik Hossain Mollah and Md Mehadi Hasan

Forward: Md Sumon Reza, Mohammad Jewel and Mohammad Ibrahim.UNB