বুধবার, ১৬ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০২৬, ০৮:৫৮ অপরাহ্ন
The Bangladesh football team has started preparations for the India match at the National Stadium with 15 players on October 31. Coach Javier Cabrera is gradually making plans with this Asian Cup qualifier ahead in mind.
England’s Leicester City footballer Hamza Chowdhury will arrive in Dhaka to join the training by November 10. The coach has indicated that he will be seen on the field full-time in the friendly match against Nepal. Canadian expatriate Shamit Som will come after Hamza. Cabrera plans to field him for some time in the Nepal match.
Coach Cabrera has returned to the camp after completing his paternity leave. He joined the training in a cheerful mood, happy to be the father of twins.
After joining the first session with the team at the National Stadium, he made clear his thoughts about Hamza and Shamit, “Hamza hopefully will come by the 10th. If everything is fine and he feels good, why not? He will play. Shamit may come a little later, but we will try to ensure that he can play at least a few minutes in the Nepal match.”
Bangladesh have a prestigious match against India on November 18. After that, the coach plans to win the last match of the group against Singapore. Although they have already exited the fight to reach the final stage of the Asian Cup with just one point from four matches.
However, the goal now is to prepare well for the match against Nepal on November 13. How useful will Nepal be as an opponent before the India match? Kabrera said, “Nepal is doing well. They are competing against a strong team. We played against them in Nepal in September. We originally wanted to play with Afghanistan, but Nepal will also be a good challenge for us.”
Bashundhara Kings returned from Kuwait on November 1 after playing the AFC Challenge League. Their 10 players were supposed to join the national team camp today. But they will join on November 7. As a result, the coach has to practice with 15 players for now, which is not at all pleasant for him. The chaos of the BFF in organizing and managing the camp is also visible.
Kabrera is moving forward with a team that is tied up. They are not calling for new faces. When asked about this, he said, “The last three camps were very close in time. We always work the same way, prepare with the same concept. So naturally we are giving continuity to the same team. There is no regular domestic league or competition in the country, where newcomers can be called based on their performance. So 90-95 percent of the players have been the same in the last three months. This is also a good thing. The team is playing well, although we did not get the expected results. However, this team is the right one to win against India.”
There has been drama over the player list since the start of the camp. Even after the start of practice, the BFF has not officially announced who has been called up and who has been dropped. Such an incident is unprecedented. It was said by the BFF that the coach has instructed not to publish the list.
But today, Kabrera has dispelled that rumor. He said, “I don’t think I have anything to do with it. I always send the list before the camp. So I don’t know why it was not published. Maybe you should talk to the media manager Mr. Sadman about this. No, it is not the coach’s instruction.”
