Jakarta: Bangladesh U23 side is geared up to face Democratic People’s Republic (DPR) of Korea aka North Korea in their Round of 16 game on Friday evening.
The North Koreans came through to the round of 16 as the runners-up of Group F after a win, a draw and a loss just like Bangladesh.
In the group stage, Bangladesh stumbled to a 3-0 loss against Uzbekistan in their first match.
However, the Red and Greens bounced back in the second game against Thailand and were unlucky to lose their early lead in the dying minutes of the game to concede a draw.
In the do or die final group game, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan scored an extra time gem to send Bangladesh through to the Round of 16 of the Asian Games for the first time in history.
DPR Korea on the other hand, drew 1-1 with Myanmar in their first match, lost to Iran 3-0 in the second match but secured a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the last game to confirm a Round of 16 clash with Bangladesh.
Currently, the North Korean national side is ranked 108th in the FIFA rankings whereas Bangladesh is ranked 194th.
However, head coach Jamie Day is not at all worried about the rankings.
The British coach said that the win over Qatar showed that the rankings do not matter.
“A football match is won or lost inside 90 minutes on the pitch. It’s all about how you perform on the day,” said Jamie.
Skipper Jamal Bhuiyan said, “We’ll give our level best to come up with a positive result from the game.”
The match will kick-off at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency, West Java, Indonesia at 6:30pm (Bangladesh time) on Friday, August 24.
