Bangladesh will have to do better than 'just making promises' to improve their game in a bid to avoid a premature exit from the fifth SAFF Football Championship.
After a shocking 1-1 draw with South Asia's whipping boys Bhutan on Wednesday, Bangladesh must beat Afghanistan in today's Group B match in Colombo to stay alive in the competition.
Otherwise, Bangladesh might revisit their fate in the inaugural SAFF Championship in 1997 when they failed to make the semifinals in Kathmandu.
Afghanistan's 2-2 draw against co-hosts Sri Lanka late on Wednesday night complicated situations for Abu Yusuf's boys, who will be under pressure to pull off at least a draw -- provided they beat Afghanistan today -- against the home side in the group finale on Sunday.
Yusuf's trust on young and untested players -- the coach did not even call the experienced footballers to the national camp -- proved to be a disaster as Bangladesh failed to make any impact on Bhutan, who capitalised on a late defensive error to cancel debutant Arup Baiday's lucky first-half lead at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
A draw against Bhutan will never be accepted by the football fans, who saw the national team rise from the inaugural tournament's failure by reaching three successive finals including winning the trophy in 2003 at home.
Runners-up in the last edition in 2005, Bangladesh used four new faces with the senior players against Bhutan but reportedly, only captain Aminul at the goal and former skipper Joy in the midfield had been impressive.
Players and management were unhappy after the result, let alone their poor show and Yusuf commented that the performance was unacceptable, adding that his players were only half the men they used to be.
Yusuf, who blamed the midfield for failing to take control, was criticised for keeping injured Emily on the pitch throughout the game.
Not that the coach had many options. He took just two specialised strikers to Colombo and debutant Komol substituted Ujjal with neither making any impact.
Yusuf, who still rates the war-torn Afghanistan lesser opponents, must find a way to beat the Afghans' pressing game and speed, which he failed to do when the two sides drew goalless in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifier in Kyrgyzstan last month.
Before that, Bangladesh beat Afghanistan 4-1 and drew 2-2 -- both in the 1979 Asian Cup qualifiers -- in Dhaka.
Afghanistan, rapidly improving under German coach Klaus Staerk, were unlucky not to collect full points against Sri Lanka.
Garez Arian Habib put the side ahead twice but the home side survived with goals from skipper Chatura Maduranga and EB Channa's late penalty.
Meanwhile, India all but confirmed a semifinal berth when the defending champions edged sporting rivals Pakistan in Male yesterday.
MN Pradip and Steven Dias scored in the first half for India, who now have maximum six points from two matches in Group A. For Pakistan, crashed out after successive defeats, Adnan Farooq reduced the arrears two minutes from time with a header.
Maldives were pitted against Nepal late yesterday and the home side needed a win to make it to the last four. A Maldives win or a draw will confirm India's place in the semis.