Defence will be key against Palestine, says Tapu

Bangladesh defender Tapu Barman said that the whole team would need to focus on defending their goalpost against the strong Palestine unit in their away match of the World Cup Qualifiers on March 21.

Having trained in Saudi Arabia for more than two weeks, the men in red and green reached Kuwait and had their first training session on Monday in the country ahead of the Palestine tie.

"Obviously the whole team would have to be focused on defending and those who play in the backline have to give extra effort. Those of us who played against them [Palestine] in the round of 16 of the Asian Cup know about them really well and obviously, they are a strong team," said Tapu, who missed the World Cup pre-qualifiers against Maldives and qualifiers against Australia and Lebanon due to a suspension imposed by his club on disciplinary ground.

"We know our duty, what we need to do against them and progress accordingly. We also have to be focused and those of us who are playing in defense will have to work more. Ahead of the big match, we have already worked on our weak and strong points and on the 21st (March) we want to apply the things we worked on in the training camp.

"If we can carry out our respect duty together as a team on the ground, then we can expect a good result," he added.

Tapu also believes that the two-week camp in Saudi Arabia ahead of the Palestine tie will benefit the team.

"I think we had a very good camp in Saudi Arabia which was necessary for us for the next match against Palestine. There is a matter of acclimatising to the weather and I think the weather in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait is similar.

"Today [Monday] we had a high-intensity training which we needed after a day's rest. Now all players in the camp are fit and eager to play the match."