Bangladesh’s chance to avenge WC Qualifier defeat

When the match is between Bangladesh and India, it does not matter if the game is football or cricket. The excitement of a high voltage encounter works equally inside the minds of both players and fans. The Bengal Tigers are set to face the Blue Tigers at Maldives National Football Stadium in a much important game of Saff Championship 2021.

The men in red and green are currently leading the group stage winning their first match against Sri Lanka by 1-0. Oscar Bruzon's men will have the confidence to hold their nerves as they played some really good possession-based football. On the other hand, the men in blue have not yet played a match in this year's hunt for South Asian champions. However, Igor Stimac's 107th ranked team will face the 189th team in Fifa rankings which keeps them at higher odds to win this tie.

India are coming to the Saff Championship 2021 with a win and a draw in their recent tour to Nepal. Besides, they have beaten Bangladesh in the last encounter between the two teams quite convincingly by 2-0. Adding to the confidence of Igor Stimac's team, they have the best South Asian player Sunil Chhetri on their side. The Indian captain and the all-time 11th highest international goalscorer mentioned that the Blue Tigers are in a good mood ahead of the interesting battle. He also respected the Bengal Tigers on how dangerous they can be at times. 

"Bangladesh have changed their coach recently. As an opponent, they are very strong. We have played against Bangladesh in recent times. They have played really well and fought hard. Every team is improving day-by-day. We need to play our best football. Now we are focusing on match-by-match and only thinking about Bangladesh right now," said Sunil Chhetri.

The Croatian Igor Stimac looks really confident that his team will be tough to break down. The coach of India said,"We will be playing in a style that will bring us results. There was one counterattack by Nepal and they won the game. Whereas the Maldives was the better team. On the other hand, Bangladesh won the game courtesy of a funny penalty. We don't know what each game will bring. We will adapt to everything that is thrown at us."

The newly appointed coach of Bangladesh, Oscar Bruzon, started his new task on flying colours winning the first match with good football. However, the Spaniard stated that he was not fully satisfied with the performance, yet he has the confidence that his men in red and green can do better. Bruzon said, "We played the match against Sri Lanka as the favourites as we are 16 steps ahead of them in the rankings. Although the performance of my players was good, I was not fully satisfied. The next match is against India. They are playing their first match in the tournament and we will play with three points besides our name. Definitely, we will start the match being a little bit ahead of them."

The Blue Tigers will miss the services of Sandesh Jhingan and Rowllin Borges. But they have talents that can fill the absence of these two important players. While the Bengal Tigers will hope their finishing woes are solved, Oscar Bruzon will ask them to keep special eyes on Sunil Chhetri and Brandon Fernandes. Bangladesh will certainly be eyeing a goal from Topu Barman once again as records say they never lost a match where the star defender scored.

Can the men in red and green pick up yet another three points? Or, will it be a fruitful start to the tournament for the men in blue? Jamal Bhuyan and Sunil Chhetri will be delighted to lead their nations to a high voltage and an exciting match on Monday.