Bangladesh will take on defending champions India in the second semi-final of the SAFF Under-20 Championship at the ANFA Complex in Nepal today.
The game will begin at 3:45pm Bangladesh Standard Time.
The winners of the game will face hosts Nepal, who reached the final of the six-nation tournament beating Bhutan 4-1 on penalties after it ended 1-1 in the stipulated time of the first semi-final on Sunday.
Bangladesh advanced to the semi-finals as Group A runners-up, beating Sri Lanka 2-0 before conceding a 2-1 defeat to Nepal, while Group B champions India won both games against Bhutan and the Maldives by a single goal.
Bangladesh lost 5-2 to India in extra-time in the last edition鈥檚 final, but coach Maruful Haque believed that his charges were confident of turning the tide in their favour this time.
鈥楧uring training, I witnessed their confidence and determination to win against India. If they can capitalise on their hunger, I believe we will reach the final by defeating India,鈥� Maruful stated to press on Sunday.
鈥楢fter losing our second game in the group stage, we were expected to face India in the semi-finals. We have made the necessary preparations, and we must reproduce what we did during the training,鈥� he added.
Bangladesh captain and goalkeeper Mehdi Hasan Srabon echoed the coach by stating, 鈥業ndia are always tough opponents. And we always try to win against them. So we will take the ground to win against India. But we have to control our emotions during the game.鈥�
鈥榃e will have different tactics against India. We practiced those tactics in the last two days of training. If we could replicate the coach鈥檚 instruction in the match controlling our emotions, we would get an expected result,鈥� said Srabon.
However, Bangladesh players got three days鈥� time to prepare before the semi-final.