FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Bangladesh to host Palestine on Tuesday

Bangladesh will host war-torn, stronger Arabian nation Palestine in their fourth Group I match of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Tuesday in the hope of compensating for their huge defeat in Kuwait.

The match between hosts Bangladesh and touring Palestine will kick-off at 3:30 pm local time at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka, UNB reports.

T-Sports will telecast the match live.

Ahead of the match, both teams made their final practice session at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Monday afternoon.

The tickets for Tuesday’s match will be available at the Motijheel branch of Premier Bank Ltd and the Bashundhara, Uttara, and Panthapath branches of Social Islami Bank Limited.

Earlier, the Bangladesh National Football Team suffered a huge 0-5 goal defeat against war-torn Arab nation Palestine in their third Group I match of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at the Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait on Thursday night.

Ahead of the World Cup qualifying match against Palestine, the Bangladesh national team conducted an intensive two-week long preparatory camp at the King Fahd Sports City Stadium in the Saudi Arabian city of Al Taif from March 3 to 17 and also played two preparatory matches there against Sudan, but all of their efforts went in vain.

This was the biggest defeat for Bangladesh against their much superior Arabian rivals, Palestine, in seven matches since their first meeting in Dhaka in 2006.

Bangladesh conceded defeat in every match except for a 1-1 draw in their first meeting in the AFC Challenge Cup held in Dhaka in 2006.

Palestine is 86 steps ahead of Bangladesh in the current FIFA men’s world ranking, with a ranking of 97 against Bangladesh’s ranking of 183.

Earlier, Bangladesh suffered a 0-7 goals defeat against World Cup playing hosts Australia in their first away match on November 16 and drew 1-1 with another Arabian nation, Lebanon, in their home match in Dhaka on November 21, apart from a 0-5 defeat against Palestine in Kuwait last week.

In the remaining two FIFA World Cup qualifying round group matches, Bangladesh will play Australia in the home match on June 6 and Lebanon in the away match on June 11.