Bangladesh will take on higher-ranked Indonesia after 14 years in a FIFA international football friendly Wednesday.
The match will kick off at 7:30pm Bangladesh time at the Si Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung city of West Java, Indonesia.
Indonesia’s current FIFA world ranking is 159, and Bangladesh’s 188.
Earlier, the teams locked horns six times where Indonesia beat Bangladesh four times – 4-0 in the Merdeka Cup in 1975, 2-1 in an international friendly in 1984, 2-0 in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 1985 and 2-0 in another international friendly in 2008.
Bangladesh beat Indonesia 2-1 in a return leg match of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 1985.
The remaining match between the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw in the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy in 1985.
Thirty-five-member Bangladesh team reached Jakarta last Friday and travelled to Bandung Saturday to play a FIFA Tier 1 international friendly match.
Ahead of the match, the Bangladesh team participated in a team meeting Monday morning to work on players’ playing positions and individual problems.
Later, the Bangladesh team took the field at the Si Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung.
Bangladesh midfielder Sohel Rana could not join the day’s practice session due to a light injury.
Eight players of the Bangladesh team from Bashundhara Kings, who failed to manage Malaysian visas from Dhaka due to their AFC Cup engagement in Kolkata, got visas from Jakarta Monday, said the Bangladesh Football Federation.
The Bangladesh team will also take to the field Tuesday evening after attending the official press conference in the afternoon.
After playing the friendly match, the team will travel to Malaysia to participate in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 qualifiers scheduled for May 8-14.
In the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, Bangladesh will play against a superior Bahrain on June 8, face Turkmenistan on June 11 and will meet hosts Malaysia on June 14.
Bangladesh team
Goalkeepers
Anisur Rahman Zico, Ashraful Islam Rana, and Mohammad Nayeem
Defenders
Yeasin Arafat, Bishwanath Ghosh, Rimon Hossain, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Riyadul Hasan Rafi, Rahmat Mia, Rayhan Hassan, and Isa Faysal
Midfielders
Jamal Bhuiyan, Atiqur Rahman Fahad, Biplo Ahmed, Mohammad Ibrahim, Rakib Hossain, Maraz Hossain Opi, Sohel Rana, and Papon Singh
Forwards
Foysal Ahmed Fahim, Jafar Iqbal, Sazzad Hossain, and Mahbubur Rahman Sufil.
Source: United News of Bangladesh