Online Desk: Bangladesh will begin their SAFF Championship campaign in Bengaluru today as the second-lowest ranked team in the competition, taking on Lebanon — the highest ranked team — with hopes of prizing at least one point from the opening Group B game.

The championship got underway yesterday with Kuwait thrashing last edition’s finalists Nepal 3-1 in the opening game of Group A and the action shifts to Group B today as Bangladesh and Lebanon square off at 4:00pm before the group’s two other teams — Maldives and Bhutan — face off later in the day at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

Bangladesh, champions in 2003, come into the competition having failed to move past the group stages in the past five editions. However, after registering a 1-0 win over Cambodia in a friendly last week, Javier Cabrera and his charges are optimistic about giving Lebanon, ranked 99th in the world, a run for their money. “We have had good preparation, good practice and good food too. Tomorrow is our final exam and we want to pass,” Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan told reporters after training yesterday.

The experienced midfielder felt that Bangladesh could still spring an upset against the team from West Asia despite being the gulf in rankings by capitalising on the opposition’s fatigue. “Lebanon are a very strong side and they are more than 90 places above us [in the FIFA Rankings]. Our target is to win but we will be happy with one point,” Jamal said. “They have played four games in the last 12 days. So they will be a bit tired and we will have a slight advantage there.”

Despite being one of the pre-event favourites, Lebanon have been unable to give their best in recent times. They finished runners-up to India in the Intercontinental Cup last week, losing to the hosts in the final after drawing against them and against Mongolia in the group stages. Their only win came against Vanuatu in their opening match.

Coach Aleksandar Ilic said in a pre-tournament press meet on Tuesday that Bhutan’s main target was to gain experience by playing against unknown opponents. “We are a new team in this tournament and we would like to get the experience of playing against these teams. Our job here is to get experience. We also want to see which way we need to work and what we need to change,” said the Serbian.

Apart from Lebanon’s poor form, history will also encourage Bangladesh today. They have an equal head-to-head record, with the two teams meeting twice during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 2011. Lebanon won their home match 4-0 before losing 2-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Although Bangladesh coach Cabrera is not relying on the decade-old result for much, he was adamant his charges could put up a fight. “We have no doubts about what we want to do and we can promise that we will compete at 100 per cent,” the Spaniard said. “Of course Lebanon are a very strong team and they will do their best to get all three points, but we are for sure ready to fight for at least one point.”