Bangladesh will ramp up preparations for the upcoming South Asian Football Federation Championship when they travel to the National Olympic Stadium for a friendly with Cambodia on Thursday evening.
While the visitors have competitive commitments to take into account this month, their hosts have just the one exhibition match scheduled in the wake of their short-lived AFF Championship run.
Match preview
The less said about Cambodia's World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign the better, as the world's 176th-ranked nation took just one point from their eight games in AFC Group C, ending a doomed run with an embarrassing 10-0 defeat to group winners Iran.
Since another forgettable qualification bid, the Koupreys of Cambodia saw their attempts to reach the 2023 Asian Cup also end in failure with a third-round qualification exit, before finally registering another pair of wins in front of their own fans during the recent AFF Championship.
However, for the ninth time in nine tournaments, Cambodia failed to make it out of the group stage, as victories over the Philippines and Brunei were cancelled out by defeats to Thailand and Indonesia, who qualified for the knockout rounds at the expense of Ryu Hirose's third-placed team.
Heading into their first friendly of 2023, Cambodia can be encouraged by the fact that both of their AFF Championship wins came at home - with an impressive eight goals scored across those two games - but they have now gone 11 games without a clean sheet since shutting out Laos in December 2021.
While Cambodia have consistently tried and failed to progress beyond the group stage of the AFF Championship, Bangladesh will soon endeavour to snap their own streak of premature exits in the SAFF Championship, which pits teams from South Asia against one another every two years.
As was the case with Cambodia, Bangladesh got as far as the third qualifying round for the 2023 Asian Cup before bowing out with successive defeats to Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Malaysia, but Javier Cabrera's side held their own during a trio of March friendlies.
Following a 1-1 draw with Malawi and 1-0 beating of the Seychelles, the Bengal Tigers suffered an identical loss to the latter in a rematch just three days later, and their Cambodian expedition actually began with an unofficial friendly against their hosts' Armed Forces on Monday, where a Mohamed Sohel Rana goal proved decisive in a 1-0 win for Cabrera's side.
Bangladesh also possess highly fond memories of their previous meetings with Cambodia, having avoided defeat in their five showdowns so far and winning each of their last three friendlies by a 1-0 scoreline, including a hard-fought triumph in September 2022.
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Team News
Since the 2022 AFF Championship, Cambodia have lost one of their esteemed nationals, as Keo Sokpheng - their third-highest goalscorer with 15 and fourth-highest appearance maker with 62 caps - has now retired from international duty.
However, fellow attacker Chan Vathanaka is still active and is poised to make his 50th appearance for Cambodia here, while one more goal will mark his 20th for the national team and draw him level with Hok Sochetra at the top of his country's all-time charts.
Texas-born winger Nick Taylor is another option in the final third, while Sos Souhana - their most-capped player of all time with 72 appearances - should be a guaranteed starter in the middle.
As for Bangladesh, defenders Rimon Hossain and Tutul Hossain Badsha have already withdrawn from the camp due to injury, but Cabrera should otherwise be working with a full contingent of troops for Thursday's warm-up match.
The visiting boss must strike a balance between testing out his best XI and ensuring that no further fitness concerns arise heading onto the SAFF Championship, but there should be a start for 70-cap skipper Jamal Bhuyan, who needs one more appearance to become the Bengal Tigers' most-capped player in history.
Cambodia possible starting lineup:
Soksela; Sambath, Visal, Chanchav; Muslim, Chanpolin, Souhana, Baraing; Chanthea, Vathanaka, Lim
Bangladesh possible starting lineup:
Zico; Kazi, Barman, Ghosh, Mia; Sohel Rana, Bhuyan, Hasan; Ibrahim, Reza, Hossain
We say: Cambodia 2-2 Bangladesh
As well as the head-to-head column going against them, Cambodia have lacked defensive resilience over the past 12 months, although they have made up for such frailties in front of their own fans with a glut of goals.
Bangladesh - who sit 16 places lower than Cambodia in the world rankings - will also be keen to avoid picking up any injuries before their competitive commitments begin, and we are struggling to separate the two nations in this one, so an entertaining draw may be on the cards.
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