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Time to grab the opportunity

Bangladesh take on Thailand in second semifinal today

Atique Anam
Bangladesh football stands on a threshold today. It could either augment the positivity it has managed to
generate in recent times, or it could take a few steps backward, depending on how Bangladesh team approach today's second semifinal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup against Thailand youth team.
Not many times in recent years had there been so much at stake on a single match. Ask why? The single biggest reason perhaps is that it is a great opportunity to make football lovers, who are slowly shrugging off the decade-long indifference towards the team, realise that our football is making positive strides.
The flood of people in all the matches in Sylhet and the turn-up of more than 12,000 people at the BNS for Bangladesh's match against Sri Lanka last week is enough evidence that people still love to believe in this team; that they love to cheer on the dazzling footwork from Zahid Hossain or Hemanta Vincent Biswas; that they
dream of seeing Mamunul Islam turn into a world class midfielder one day.
The Thailand team Bangladesh will be taking on today is not their senior national team. It is an under-22 team, yet one which cannot be taken lightly, considering the strides made by these Southeast Asian nations over the last two decades. Once Bangladesh used to fight with the likes of Thailand strength for strength -Bangladesh beat Thailand's senior
team twice in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in the '80s. But those days are long gone, and the youth sides of these teams can us a scare now-a-days. However, Bangladesh coach Lodewijk de Kruif is absolutely not concerned about the age or experience of the opposition. For him, 'the only task is to go there and beat them and qualify for the final."
The Bangladesh skipper Mamunul yesterday reiterated that having fulfilled their promise to
the Bangladesh Football Federation president, they are ready to challenge themselves for a place in the final. Their path to the semifinals has not been easy an easy one. After losing against Malaysia, and coping up with the criticism from different quarters, they had to bring out their best against Sri Lanka to book a semifinalticket.
A 1-0 scoreline against the South Asians did not truly portray the picture of the match as the hosts dominated proceedings and should have actually come out with a much bigger margin of victory. What pleased the crowd and fans though was the way they went about their job. The players in red and green were in complete control and by and large effectively managed to integrate the long-ball approach to their possessionbased passing football.
There were a couple of areas of concern though. Despite creating a hatful of chances, Bangladesh failed to kill oft Sri Lanka completely and for much of the same reason, lost their opening match against Malaysia. Despite drawing blanks in both matches, Zahid Hasan Emily's role in disturbing the opposition defenders and
assisting in build-up role in attacks is likely to keep him ahead of the others in the pecking order. Goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel's height and the new-found confidence from saving a penalty against Sri Lanka should ease his nerves and put him ahead of Rasel Mahmud Liton for the reckoning. Unless there is a last-minute injury, the defence and midfield is also likely to remain unchanged.
The one reason Bangladesh suffered against Malaysia was due to the lack of prior information available about the opposition players, a factor which should be nullified after the group stage matches. The Bangladesh thinktank already know where the Thai threat might be coming from -according to Mamunul quick interchange of passes and deadly set-pieces - and must have worked on these aspects before they take the field today.
So as we build up for the big match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today, we could be in for a great feast of football. No matter what the end result turns out to be, the football fanatics will be hoping that Bangladesh continue to play a positive brand of football.