Stadium atmosphere helped Bangladesh: Javier Cabrera

Javier Cabrera heaped praise on his players for managing the game well despite a man down.

Javier Cabrera hailed Bangladesh’s great progress after the South Asian side reached Round 2 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ Preliminary Joint Qualification at the expense of a higher-ranked Maldives on Tuesday.

The 3-2 Round 1 aggregate win capped the incredible work the team had put in since Cabrera took over as head coach in January 2022, with the Spaniard extremely pleased to see their sacrifices come to fruition.

“After all the work that we have done in the last two years and the progression that was there in the last six to seven months, if we had missed the chance to play group stage qualification games, the process would have been almost broken,” said Cabrera.

“So that was actually a great relief, a great moment of happiness and celebration and still more celebration, hopefully.

“It's been a super hard fight, very tight game against a very strong team with quality players, especially in the midfield and in the forward line.”

Twice Bangladesh took the lead in the match played at Bashundhara Kings Arena Stadium with Rakib Hossain and Foysal Fahim scoring on either side of Aisam Ibrahim’s equaliser for Maldives.

The Bengal Tigers even went down to 10 men after MD Rohel Sana picked up his second yellow card in the 59th minute but it did not derail them.

“There were a lot of difficult moments during the game, like when we played with 10. Anything could have happened, but the players actually managed very well. I think the atmosphere in the stadium helped us a lot.

“That is proper Bangladesh, that energy, that commitment, that sacrifice. Everyone together, positive in the messages, supporting everyone. Huge work by the players.

“What they did is commendable and I’m very positive and now we can celebrate for some days and travel to Australia and enjoy that game and let’s see, we have a good opportunity in the group too.”

Cabrera will take his Bangladesh team to face Australia in their opening Round 2 Group I match at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium with Lebanon and Palestine the other sides in the fray.