In a warm-up match that took place yesterday in Phnom Penh, Bangladesh kicked off the second part of their preparations for the SAFF Championship with a 1-0 victory against a Cambodian Premier League team called Tiffy Army FC.
The goal that proved to be the game-winner was scored by Abahani midfielder Sohel Rana in the 12th minute of the contest. Coach Javier Cabrera put all of his 21 available players through their paces in this match, with the exception of winger Rakib Hossain, who is currently recuperating from a hamstring injury.
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Cabrera fielded centre-backs Tariq Kazi and Mehedi Hasan, left-back Alomgir Mollah, and right-back Rahmat Mia behind three midfielders — Jamal Bhuiyan, Sohel, and Sohel Rana — while Faisal Ahmed Fahim, Mohammad Ibrahim, and Suman Reza played upfront. Fit-again defender Tapu Barman played the final few minutes of the match.
“It was a nice match because we played well and generated more opportunities for ourselves to score goals. It was difficult going up against opponents that had three to four players from other countries in their lineup. According to a video message sent out by the team’s captain, Jamal, “It was a good test for us, and the positive side is that we won without giving up any goals.”
Cabrera feels that the victory would instill more confidence in the players.
It took us some time to get into the match because they were pretty active, and it was difficult in the first ten to fifteen minutes, but we had nice opportunities, and Sohel Rana ended up scoring the goal for us. We could have been able to go to the first half with a better result if we had scored one or two more goals. The coach, who was 38 years old, thought it was sufficient, particularly because the defensive block had some potential.
The manager, Amer Khan, shared the news that defenders Bishwanath Ghosh and Isa Faisal would be joining the team this morning after coming in from Bangladesh late the previous night.