Bangladesh will be looking to fine-tune themselves ahead of their Asian Cup Qualifiers against India on November 18 when they take on Nepal in the one-off FIFA international friendly match at the National Stadium in Dhaka today.
After being eliminated from the group stage of the Asian Cup Qualifiers with two home defeats and two away draws, Bangladesh are now focused on restoring some pride in their remaining two matches against India and Singapore.
It will be the 26th meeting between Bangladesh and Nepal since September 1983, with Bangladesh registering 13 wins against four draws and eight losses.
Bangladesh (183rd) and Nepal (180th) are very close in terms of current FIFA rankings, but in their recent five meetings Bangladesh conceded two defeats against three draws from November 2020 to September 2025.
In their last meeting on September 6, 2025, Bangladesh played out a goalless draw against hosts Nepal before their second match on September 9 was annulled due to political turmoil that ousted Nepal鈥檚 prime minister KP Sharma Oli.
鈥榃e will play against Nepal with the same mentality we will play against India鈥� The motivation is high about the India match,鈥檚aid Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
鈥楾he match against Nepal will be very competitive, and we are ready for that鈥� I know, there are some criticism about me, I take all those positively,鈥� he replied to a query about minimum success in the recent games of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan said, 鈥楾he main goal is to win against India, and we want to win tomorrow鈥檚 match [against Nepal].鈥�
Replying to a query about conceding goals in injury time, Jamal said, 鈥楩or every match we should be ready for 97 minutes with full concentration.鈥�
This time Bangladesh will be boosted by the presence of Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury and Cavalry FC鈥檚 Shamit Shome, as both of them were unavailable during their Nepal tour in September.
