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Merdeka Cup

Booters face Myanmar

Sports Reporter
Bangladesh hope to bounce back from their 1 -0 defeat in the opening match of the Merdeka Cup when they take on neighbours Myanmar in the second round match of Group B in Kuala Lumpur today.
The match will kick off at 6.45pm Bangladesh time at the Shah Alam Stadium, where Shafiqul Islam Manik's side were beaten by an 88-minutc strike from Mozambique Under-20's Franciso Jange on Thursday night
Bangladesh were unfortunate to lose the game after dominating almost the entire show and having missed sure sitters.
"The national team really looked committed and inspired after a long time and if the players can repeat their performance of file first game we are bound get a good result," team leader and Bangladesh Football Federation vice-president Badal Roy told from the Malaysian capital over phone last night.
“It's not impossible to beat Myanmar," said Badal adding that the management was happy with the team performance despite the loss.
Myanmar were thrashed 3-1 by
Vietnam's Olympic team (Under-23) also onThursday night.
"In fact, we paid for failing to give the national team adequate preparation. We lost the game in the last ten minutes, a period which is very difficult for players under prepared, especially against a tough team like Mozambique. Also, the team were playing so well that they perhaps never thought of concedingagoal."
Bangladesh, however, have conceded too many goals in the last five minutes of the first and second halves in recent times including matches against Kyrgyzstan in the
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AFC Challenge Cup, Tajikistan in the World Cup qualifiers, Cambodia in the Nehru Cup qualifiers and India in the 2005 SAFF Championship final. It is a problem that goes a long way back and the team's think-tank must consider finding a way to get out of it.
"Emily wasted a great chance to put the team ahead but I think it happened because of lack of practice and a bit of inexperience. He shot the ball early but should have tried to hold on to the ball and get into the penalty box. The same words go for the defence too," told former national captain Badal.
"The team from Mozambique, although young, had played about ten practice matches before the tournament. That’s where they
were ahead ofus.”
Bangladesh's match against Mozambique U-20 will not go into the book as a full international but against Myanmar, it would be a chance for them to put an end to a two and a half year run without a single international victory.
"The match against Mozambique has given the team more confidence and we will go for a win against Myanmar," told coach Manik
"We just have to make sure the team play the same way for 90 minutes. If that happens we can hope to win.
"There is always a matter of luck for win or loss. We could not score due to bad luck and conceding the goals was also same. I hope luck
will shine on us this time," added the former national footballer, who allowed his best 11 only to swim in the morning but took the reserve bench to train yesterday afternoon.
It would be Bangladesh's sixth international match against Myanmar, who had won big in the 70s when they were Asia's one of the top teams under their old name Burma. After 6-0 (1973) and 7-1 (1975) defeats at the Merdeka Cup, Bangladesh finally turned the table on their neighbours in a friendly in Dhaka in 1993,winning3-l.
In 1995, Bangladesh - - led by the late Monem Munna -- defeated Myanmar 2-1 in the final of a four-nation tournament in Yangoon despite losing the league match to thehosts4-0.