SPORTS REPORTER

Bangladesh are eager to give visiting Australia a tough time when they square off in a Group I fixture of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Dhaka today.

The match at the Bashundhara Kings Arena is set to kick off at 4:45pm.

Having confirmed a third-round berth in the World Cup Qualifiers with a maximum 12 points from four matches, Australia, who are ranked 160 places higher than Bangladesh, appear upbeat ahead of the encounter against the group’s bottom dwellers.

The men in red and green, on the other hand, remain confident in their ability to use their home advantage this time against the Socceroos, who thrashed Bangladesh 7-0 at Aami Park in Melbourne in November last year and had handed 5-0 and 4-0 defeats at home and away matches, respectively, during the Russia World Cup Qualifiers in 2015.

“If you compare it to Melbourne [match], of course, we have the responsibility of improving what we did there. We had some good moments there, but definitely struggled for different reasons – one of those was that we conceded quite early, which we want to avoid tomorrow,” Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera said at a pre-match press conference yesterday.

“We want to show our people at home that here we can compete with everyone, though we know how challenging it’s going to be against tomorrow’s [today’s] rivals.

“We want to compete and make things difficult for Australia. That is our objective,” the Spaniard added.

Captain Jamal Bhuiyan also wants to display their best in front of a familiar environment.

“Although we got short time to get prepared, the positive side was that all players had been in action in the league, and they had been at the top of fitness. We will be trying our level best to perform better against strong Australia,” said Jamal, who also believes the day in Melbourne was a bad one for them.

“Wearing hand gloves, we had to play amid chilly weather in Melbourne, but this time we have some advantages – home ground, familiar conditions and home crowd. So, we want to utilise these small things to prove that the 7-0 drubbing in Melbourne was a bad day for us,” said Jamal.

Australia, who enjoyed a rest day on Tuesday after arriving here, underwent their only training session yesterday in Dhaka following a four-day training in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Socceroos brought a comparatively younger side, dropping 12 players from the squad that played their last match against Lebanon in March. Also, around 10 players, who were part of the Australia squad during their recent Bangladesh encounter, will also miss today’s affair.

According to Australia coach Graham Arnold, his troops would be wary of the home team.

“We do know that Bangladesh, when they play at home, they are a different team than away from home. Of course, we beat them seven-nil in November last year but that’s all in the past. It’s all about tomorrow and making sure our boys are mentally ready and strong for this game; and hopefully in front of a good crowd,” said Arnold at yesterday’s presser.

“Look, we have our standards and, when I say that, all our players understand that ‘I don’t care who we play against, whenever you wear the national team shirt of Australia on your heart, you play to the best of your ability with the right mindset to win the game’,” remarked the Australia coach when asked about the slim chances of losing against Bangladesh .