Indian national team head coach Igor Stimac, on the eve of the Blue Tigers' match against Bangladesh, described the opposition as a "team with great fighting spirit", that puts in "quality work" on the pitch.
India will take on Bangladesh in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 preliminary joint round qualification match on Monday at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
"In the football world, I would say they are very annoying team who disturb the opposition with so much defensive work, quality work - with blocks - quite similar to what we did against Qatar," said Stimac in an official release issued by All India Football Federation (AIFF).
"In football at times, you need to do everything possible to irritate the rival team, to annoy them, to cut their passing. Bangladesh are fighting it for every point in the group, and whatever they do, they do it as a team," he added.
Defender Sandesh Jhingan stressed that the team aims to carry forward the "character" displayed in the match against Qatar into the match against Bangladesh.
"The match against Qatar was not easy. But we displayed a certain character and arrogance in the 90 minutes against the Asian champions. We aim to do great in our second game. We will give our best with our desire, commitment and try to make everyone proud," Jhingan said.
The last time the two teams met at the YBK in Kolkata back in October 2019, the match ended 1-1.
"We are going to try to show some composure different from that of the Qatar or Oman match. It's up to us whether we can handle the match better in regards to ball possession, ball movement, speed and accuracy of passing and the eventual execution," Stimac said.
"The matches against Qatar and Bangladesh are so different - from one extreme to another. In the first game we played the best team in Asia who were so superior and have been training every day in comparison to us having just eight days of training prior to the start of the competition. In fact, without the help of the Qatar FA and Qatari government, we wouldn't have even begun our training," he added.
On Thursday, India suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Qatar. Courtesy of the result, India stays on three points from six matches, while Qatar sits pretty on top of Group E with 19 points from seven matches.
( With inputs from ANI )
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