Dhaka, May 26 (bdnews24.com) – The Bangladesh national football team leave here Tuesday for Bangkok to play two warm-up matches before starting their 5th SAFF Championship campaign, scheduled for June 3 to 14 in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
On the eve of team's departure, the Bangladesh Football Federation Monday declared a 20-member squad with goalkeeper Aminul Haq captaining the side and second goalkeeper Biplob Bhattacharya being his deputy.
Bangladesh had proved their supremacy in the sub-continental football twice, clinching gold medals in the SAFF Championship and the SAFF Games football.
This time many see last year's runners-up Bangladesh have a little chance to reach the SAFF Championship final despite having practiced for almost two months under the guidance of coach Abu Yousuf.
"No doubt, the opponents are definitely strong sides, but I want to rely on the boys, who can see them in the final if they can put 70 percent of their performance on the field," Yousuf told a press conference at the BFF House Monday.
Three- time finalists Bangladesh were drawn into Group B along with hosts Sri Lanka, new-power Afghanistan and lower placed Bhutan while Group A have included champions India, co-hosts the Maldives, Pakistan and Nepal.
Afghanistan had qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup putting Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan behind while Sri Lanka joined the eight-team AFC Challenge Cup finals overwhelming Pakistan 7-1, and both are the great threat to former SAFF champions Bangladesh in the group-phase matches.
"We have a problem that the players cannot perform throughout the game and that's why we often go behind in the match against the opponents despite starting better," said Yousuf, who thinks Sri Lanka would be the main threat to them in the group-phase match.
The former national footballers, however, said that he had picked those footballers, able to play throughout the 90-minute game and had the mettle to fight.
Yousuf also believes if his side can kick off to a good start against Bhutan, his boys can get a moral boost.
Captain Aminul Haq was confident 0f a better performance this time.
"We have been training for almost two months and we want to go forward step by step – first to qualify for the semifinals, then the final, and I think we are capable of reaching the last stage of the meet," said Aminul, who had earlier led the national team in 1999.
"If we can play as a unit, the result will come in our favour ultimately," said deputy captain Biplob.
BFF vice president Badal Roy said the BFF boss ensured the players that the federation would take all responsibility if anyone suffered injury. The players would also be insured in future before any international match, added Roy.
Roy, who also chairman of the national team management committee, said that the team would play two warm-up matches -– one against Thailand's second-string team and another against a local club – Wednesday and Friday.
Fixture:
June 4 - Bangladesh vs Bhutan
June 6 – Bangladesh vs Afghanistan
June 8 – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
Squad: Aminul Haq (captain), Biplob Bhattacharya, Hasan Al Mamun, Wali Faisal, Ariful Islam, Rajani Kanta Barman, Arup Kumar Badya, Atiqur Islam Mishu, Mofazzal Hossain Saikat, Nazrul Islam, Enamul Haq Sharif, Faisal Mahmud, Jahed Parvez Chowdhury, Mamunul Islam, Arif Khan Joy, Abul Hossain, Arman Aziz, Mehdi Hasan Ujjal, Jahid Hasan Emily and Abdul Baten Kamol.
Officials: Shafiquzzaman (team leader), Sheikh Mohammad Aslam (manager), Mohammad Yousuf (chief coach), Golam Rabbani Choton (assistant coach), Mahfuz Ullah Chishtee (doctor) and M Moshsin (team staff).
bdnews24.com/ar/ja/rm/2058 hrs
