DHAKA, June 21, 2023 (BSS)-Bangladesh will start their eight-nation SAFF Championship campaign when they will face strong Lebanon in their opening Group B match scheduled to be held tomorrow (Thursday) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangaluru.

Private satellite channel T-Sports will telecast the match live that kicks off at 4 pm (BST).

Bangladesh's preparation for the SAFF championship is good so far. Bangladesh reached Bengaluru being boosted after beating Cambodia in a lone FIFA Friendly match held in Cambodia. In that continuity, the Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera is expecting a positive result in this championship.
Cabrera earlier said they are going to participate in the championship with a hope of positive result.

Putting Lebanon ahead in the fight and admitting strong as the team, Javier said Lebanon played more matches than Bangladesh in recent times.

After 2009, Bangladesh could not reach the group stage of SAFF. This year, challenging is waiting more for the red-green jersey holders. Spanish coach Javier Cabrera is going to take up the challenge of SAFF for the first time after taking over as the head coach of Bangladesh team and it'll not be an easy task for Bangladesh to take the challenge under the Cabrera.

Although the difference between the Bangladesh (192) and tournament favorite Lebanon (99) in the FIFA ranking is very high, no one is looking down on anyone in the field.
Lebanon are debutants in the competition and one of the two non-South Asian teams invited to take part will play safely with hard preparation.

The remaining two group matches of Bangladesh will be held on June 25 and 28. Bangladesh will play against Maldives on June 25 at 4 pm (BST) and face Bhutan on June 28 at 8 pm (BST). All the matches will be held at the same venue.

The semifinal of the championship will be held on July 1 while the final is slated for July 4. The timing of semifinals and final of the championship will be confirmed later stage.

Bangladesh squad - Anisur Rahman Zico, Sahidul Alam Sohel, Mitul Marma, Topu Barman, Bishwanath Ghosh, Tariq Raihan Kazi, Alomgir Molla, Rahmat Mia, Mehedi Hasan Mithu, Isa Faysal, Md. Ridoy, Sohel Rana, Sheikh Morsalin, Jamal Bhuyan, Mojibor Rahman Jony, Md Sohel Rana, Rabiul Hasan, Suman Reza, Foysal Ahmed Fahim, Mohammad Ibrahim, Rakib Hossain, Aminur Rahman Sojib and Md. Rafiqul Islam.