Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in the curtain raiser of the 13th SAFF Football Tournament at the National Stadium in Male today. Kickoff is scheduled for 4.30 p.m. local time.
After a lapse of over three months with the conclusion of the World Cup qualifying matches in Korea, the national soccerites will be once again seen in action in a bid to be the South East Asian champions competed by five nations for next two weeks.
Previous records indicate Sri Lanka has a poor track record. Both teams have met on 16 occasions so far since 1979 where they met first and since then visitors have managed to gain the major share by notching up 10 wins and the Lankans were able to account for four victories, while two fixtures ended in a draw. Sri Lanka’s only consolation so far was way back in 2018 where the Lankan Lions edged out the Bangali Tigers 1-0 after a close tussle.
Nevertheless, no team can be measured on their past performance, and even the Lankan outfit has made some drastic changes to their side from the recent past. The inclusion of three foreign players - Wazeem Razik, Marvin Hamilton and Dillon de Silva - no doubt will strengthen the composition of the team, along with the addition of some other talented players.
As per reports from Male, the Bangladesh team consists of 10 players from Basundhra Kings the domestic champions. The national team is also coached by the same coach, which is an added advantage for them.
As per past performances of the teams, Bangladesh has the edge over their rivals, but the team that executes a strategic plan is likely to win today’s game
Nepal vs Maldives
Meanwhile, Nepal will face hosts Maldives in the second match of the tournament at the same venue today.
Both the teams would look to start their campaigns on a high, and leave back their otherwise poor form leading up to the tournament. Nepal will look to dominate the game as they often perform well against Southeast Asian countries and have gained a lot of lessons coming into the tournament.
On the other hand, Maldives would like to compete with Nepal neck-to-neck as they are hosting the tournament and would be familiar with the conditions.
However, Maldives, like Nepal, have lost two and drawn one of the previous three games.
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