Bangladesh National Football team will leave for Melbourne on Friday night to play against hosts Australia in the first qualification round-2 match of the FIFA World Cup' 2026 in a hope to display their  fighting spirit.

After conducting the final practice session at Bashundhara Kings Arena Friday afternoon, the team will fly to Melbourne in Australia on the same night.

Touring Bangladesh will play their 2nd round Group I  away match against the World Cup playing stronger Australia in Melbourne on Nov 16.

Soon after returning from Australia,  Bangladesh team will play their home match of the World Cup Qualifiers against Lebanon on November 21 at Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka.

Bangladesh had earlier played Australia on two occasions under the present captain Jamal Bhuyan in the qualification round of the 2015 FIFA World Cup.

Bangladesh suffered 0-5 goals defeat in their awar match in Perth and conceded 0-4 goals defeat against them in home match in Dhaka.

Australia was eliminated from the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar losing to World Champions Argentina by 1-2 goals.

In a pre-tour press conference at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Thursday, the Spanish Head Coach of Bangladesh team Javier Cabrera said, It will be a positive sign for us to play good football against them (Australia) on their soil.

"Our mentality is very important rather than the result, Australia will dominate us, but we have to maintain our present form with a fighting spirit against them, " he said.

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan said, "We want to play a good football (against Australia). We are confident about our ability and the match, although Australia is far better than us in ranking and strength."

"Recently, we are playing good football, we beat the Maldives, played good football against Afghanistan. It's very important for us to perform against Australia with our fighting spirit" the Bangladesh captain added.

Bangladesh earned the rights to play in the six-match home and away basis Group I matches of the FIFA World Cup's Asian qualifiers with Australia, Lebanon and Palestine eliminating the Maldives in the round 1 match last month.