Sheikh Morsalin said Bangladesh must find a way to win their Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore. He spoke before the key match and made the team’s aim clear.
Bangladesh will play Singapore national football team away next Tuesday in their last match of the qualifiers. In the first leg in Dhaka, Javier Cabrera’s side lost 2–1.
Singapore have already booked their place in the Asian Cup finals. Bangladesh are third in the group with five points from five matches. They have one win and two draws. Hong Kong national football team are second with eight points. Every team has one match left.
Bangladesh reached Singapore after a friendly against Vietnam national football team. The team held their first training session on Saturday. Morsalin spoke in a video shared by the Bangladesh Football Federation. He said the team knows the challenge of playing away from home.
“The weather is quite similar to Bangladesh, so there is nothing to adjust to. Everything is fine, Alhamdulillah. There will be pressure, but we will try not to take it and instead focus on how to perform well. Since our away record is good, if we can somehow win this match, we can still finish second in the group.”
“We want to win this match no matter what. Everyone is mentally ready. Our goal is clear, we have to win this game.”
Bangladesh lost 3–0 to Vietnam before this trip. Morsalin said the team expected more from that game but will learn from it.
“We had expectations in Vietnam. We played very well in the second half and tried to dominate. Now we will learn from the mistakes in that match and use those lessons here so that we can win.”
“Our full focus is now on this match. We are all very positive. We have to win this game somehow. We are mentally prepared in that way.”
Bangladesh will miss Topu Barman and Rakib Hossain due to suspension. Morsalin said the rest of the squad must step up.
“If they (Topu and Rakib) were available, it would have been better. But now they are not, so those of us here must fight together. We are all ready for that.”
He also spoke about the fans who may come to support the team in Singapore.
“We have heard that many fans will come to watch. We hope we will not disappoint them. They are coming with great effort, and tickets were hard to get. We came here to win. We ask for their prayers and the prayers of the people back home so that we can win and return to Bangladesh with a good result.”
