Bangladesh face Seychelles in second FIFA friendly Tuesday

Hosts Bangladesh will face visiting Seychelles in the second and final match of their FIFA Tier-1 International Football Series at the Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday, reports news agency UNB.

The match will kick off at 3:45pm and will be televised live by Bangladesh Television.

Bangladesh started the series with a 1-0 win against Seychelles at the same venue on Saturday. Finland-born Bangladeshi defender Tariq Kazi scored the winner in the 43rd minute.

Jamal Bhuiyan floated the ball inside the opposition’s D-box from a free kick, which a Seychelles defender tried to clear but ended up passing it straight to Tariq, who headed the ball home. This was Tariq’s first ever goal for Bangladesh.

In the same match, Nigeria-born Eleta Kingsley’s dream came true as he finally got to make his debut for Bangladesh.

Eleta, who has earned Bangladesh citizenship, was brought in as a substitute in the second half. The 33-year-old, who has scored seven goals in the running season of the Bangladesh Premier League for Dhaka Abahani, couldn’t score on debut but came close twice.

In a pre-match press conference at Krira Bhaban in Sylhet on Monday, Bangladesh captain Jamal said Tuesday’s match would be tougher and more challenging compared to the first one.

Seychelles coach Neville Bothe also said that his side will perform better than they did in the first match and claimed that they will step into the field for the second match with only one thing on their minds, victory.

Before the current series, Bangladesh and Seychelles had faced off only once. That match took place in a four-nation football tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2021. That game ended in a draw.

The current FIFA ranking of Bangladesh is 192 and Seychelles ranks 199.

The win on Sunday was Bangladesh’s second win in their last nine international matches, after their 1-0 win against Cambodia under the Spanish coach Javier Cabrera.