Sri Lanka are eyeing a win and the series in the second of the two friendly internationals against Bangladesh at the Muktijoddha Smriti Stadium in Rajshahi.
“All players are in good shape and they are determined to win the match as well as the series.” said a confident Sri Lanka coach Nikola Kavazovic.
In the first friendly at Jessore, vice captain Nalaka Roshan’s brilliant free-kick earned a draw for the visitors. Despite the home support and the domination throughout the 90 minutes, the hosts could only eke out a draw in the first match on Friday.
Sri Lankan coach Nikola Kavazovic indicated he will resort to the same strategy that he applied in Jessore. The visitors were happy with the draw in the first match after they applied a defensive strategy, though he thinks that today’s game with be tougher as the hosts now know his team’s s strengths and weaknesses .
“Bangladesh played almost perfectly in the first match and they are a very strong side and they also will get the full home support. Titu is an excellent coach, he saw our weaknesses so we must play faster, one-two touch football, better offensive-defensive transition” said Kavazovic, who thanked his gallant warriors for not losing their concentration in the first match despite crowd pressure from the 30,000 fans.
The under pressure Bangladesh side are eager to end their 19-month run without a win as they look to entertain the Rajshahi crowd and clinch the SS Steel International Friendly Series. Fingers were raised at the misfiring forwards and have made Bangladesh coach Saiful Bari Titu think of reshuffling his starting XI.
“We are under pressure. We should have won the first game but we failed to take the chances. We must take lessons from that game and pressure is good only when you take it as a motivation,” Titu said.
Titu admitted it would be a tough job getting a win against a young Lankan side that have ‘astounding fitness level and are very good at off-the-ball running as well as quick changes of position’.
Titu hinted some changes in his starting line-up for today’s match. In the first game, Titu picked Monaym Khan Raju in place of in-form midfielder Sohel Rana and used expatriate Jamal Bhuiyan as a substitute.
Both Sohel and Jamal are expected to start today in place of Raju and Yasin Ahmed. Forward Mithun Chowdhury could miss the game due to some illness.
Rajshahi’s Muktijuddho Smirity Stadium will make its debut as an international venue making it the third venue after Sylhet and Jessore from outside the capital to get such recognition. Channel 9 will telecast live the match at 3:00pm.
