Bangladesh captain and veteran defender Tapu Barman on Tuesday said that the women’s team and the U-20s won SAFF titles, so now it would be their turn to prove themselves in the upcoming round three of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification.

“I will congratulate the women’s team and the U-20s as they won SAFF titles. They did great for Bangladesh. Now it is our turn, it is our opportunity to prove ourselves. Our target is to get good results in the round three of AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification and if we want to get good results there, we need to win both of these friendlies against Maldives,” he said in a press conference at Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka.

When asked about the definition of a good result, the veteran defender replied, “It means we have to win. We just want to win. First, we want to win at our home ground, it is the main objective for us. We have faith in ourselves and know that we will win both games.”

Bangladesh are confident of winning both Bashundhara Group FIFA Tier-1 International Match against Maldives which will begin Wednesday with the first game of the two friendlies at Bashundhara Kings Arena at 6pm (BST). T Sports will telecast the game. 

Bangladesh last played against Maldives in October 2023 at the same venue when they beat their favourite South Asian opponent by 2-1 in the second leg of FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers round one and qualified for round two of the joint qualifiers based on aggregated 3-2 after the first-leg was tied at 1-1 draw at Galolhu Rasmee Dhandu Stadium in Male.

The matches, which are taking place during the FIFA window, are important for both sides as they will get a chance to improve their ranks especially for Cabrera’s men, who are currently 22 spots behind Maldives in FIFA ranking.

The victory will help Bangladesh not only to improve their ranks but also help them to get comparatively easier opponents in the group stage ahead of the draw for the third round of the ongoing AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification.

However, scoring goals in international matches has always been an issue for Bangladesh. The men in red and green played a total of eight matches including two unofficial games against Sudan this year, but they scored only one goal against Bhutan in a FIFA friendly while conceding 16 goals.

When asked about it, Tapu said, “We have been struggling with scoring issues for a long time, but it is also true when we have scored, we have won the match. We did a lot of work in finishing. We will show it tomorrow [Wednesday] on the field.”

Tapu also led Bashundhara Kings in the AFC Challenge League (ACL) 2024-25 campaign in Bhutan where the Bangladeshi champions lost all of four group matches against Nejmeh Sporting Club of Lebanon, East Bengal Football Club of India, and Paro Football Club of Bhutan. Kings several players will play against Maldives.

Asked if they were mentally prepared after their frustrating campaign, the defender replied, “The club and the national team are two different things. We have foreign players in the club. You know about their roles and performance there. But we (local players) did our best. The national team is totally different, here each and every player gives their best on the pitch.”