Bangladesh National Football team to start their 2nd round  Group I campaign of the FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers against much stronger and superior Australia in Melbourne on Thursday (Nov 16) evening in a hope to display their fighting spirit and ability.

The uneven battle between 27th ranked Australia and 183rd ranked Bangladesh will kick-off at 8 pm local time and 3 pm Bangladesh time at the 30,000 capacity Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, also known as AAMI Park.

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

This will be the 3rd meeting between two teams  since 2015. Bangladesh, under the current captain Jamal Bhuyan, suffered a huge defeat against Australia in  their previous two matches in 2015 in the qualification round of FIFA World Cup.

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

Soon after returning from Australia,  Bangladesh team will play their home match of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers against Lebanon on November 21 at 5:45 pm Bangladesh time at Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka.

However, Bangladesh will play their remaining four Group I matches next year.

Bangladesh will play their home against Palestine on March 21, away match with Palestine on March 26, home match against Australia on June 6 and away match with Lebanon on June 11.

Addressing a pre-match press conference on Wednesday,  the Spanish Head Coach of Bangladesh team Javier Cabrera said, we wants to play good football with our  fighting spirit to prove our ability against the stronger Australia.

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan said, " the match will be very tough for us, but we are ready  to give our best in the match". 

Australian head coach Graham Arnold paid his respect to Bangladesh team terming the team  as good and strong side and said "  the match is very important for us, we wants to move forward to qualify for the World Cup by winning the (Thursday's) match 

The Bangladesh team, which reached Melbourne last Saturday, made only a gym and recovery session on the very first day (Sunday) to make the players fit following a long journey.

In the next two days, Bangladesh made their practice session amid local cold and windy weather at the Yarraville Grory Football Club ground in Melbourne. 

But, Bangladesh made their final practice session Wednesday evening at the AAMI Park after addressing a pre- match press conference at the same venue late afternoon.

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.

The 23-- member final squad of Bangladesh:

Goalkeepers:  Mitul Marma, Mehdi Hassan Srabon, and Pappu Hossain 

Defenders: Bishwanath Ghosh, Hasan Murad, Tareq Raihan Kazi, Rahmat Mia, Isa Faysal, Shakil Hossain and Saad Uddin 

Midfielders: Sohel Rana, Shekh Morsalin, Mohammad Ridoy, Md Sohel Rana, Mojibor Rahman Jony, Rabiul Hasan, Jamal Bhuyan and Jayed Ahmed; 

Forwards: Rakib Hossain, Sumon Reza, Foysal Ahmed Fahim, Rafiqul Islam and Mohammad Ibrahim.