Booters reach Oman to play FIFA, AFC qualifier
A 26-member Bangladesh National Football team reached Oman capital Muscat on Monday afternoon to play their joint qualification match for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 against Oman on 14 November, reports UNB.
The match will be held at the Seeb Sports Stadium in Al Seeb city of Oman at 9:00pm (BST) on the day.
The team checked in at Radisson Blu Hotel in Muscat, UNB quoted media officer of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Ahsan Ahmed as saying.
The Bangladesh booters who were scheduled to leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:30pm on Sunday left from here at 10:30am on Monday. It was 13 hours delayed as the Muscat-bound Bangladesh Biman flight made an emergency landing in Dhaka due to technical glitch after flying for one hour.
Ahead of the match, Bangladesh booters will make a 10-day training camp there that also include a practice match against a top football club of Oman on 9 November.
Bangladesh have been placed in Group E of the AFC Cup with Qatar, Oman, Afghanistan and neighbouring India.
The red and green Bangladesh team started their campaign with a 0-1 goal defeat against Afghanistan in the 1st match in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on 10 September, conceded a 0-2 goals defeat against Asian champions Qatar in the 2nd match in Dhaka on 10 October and played to a 1-1 draw against India in their 3rd match in Kolkata on 15 October.
In the remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Afghanistan on 26 March next year in Bangladesh, Qatar on 31 March in Qatar, India on 4 June in Bangladesh and Oman on 9 June in Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Oman made a flying start in the qualifiers beating India by 2-1 goals in Guwahati on 5 September and beat Afghanistan by 3-0 goals in Al-Seeb on 10 October but conceded 1-2 goals defeat against Qatar in Al Wakrah on 15 October.
Bangladesh ranked 184th in the FIFA rankings and 38th in AFC ones while Oman ranked 84th and 11th respectively.
Captain Jamal Bhuiyan, head coach Jamie Day, assistant coach Stuart Paul Watkiss, physiotherapist Simon James and defender Yeasin Arafat are not among the 26 members. They will reach Oman soon.
The 23-member Bangladesh squad: Shahidul Alam Sohel, Ashraful Islam Rana, Anisur Rahman, Tutul Hosain Badsha, Rayhan Hasan, Saad Uddin, Mamunul Islam Mamun, Nabib Newaz Ziban, Sohel Rana, Biplo Ahamed, Mahbubur Rahman Sufil, Towhidul Alam Sabuz, Mohammad Ibrahim , Matin Miah, Jamal Bhuiyan, Yeasin Khan, Rahmat Mia, Yeasin Arafat, Riyadul Hasan, Bishwanath Ghosh, Rabiul Hasan, Arifur Rahman, Rakib Hossain.