Bangladesh winger Rakib Hossain at the training session in Melbourne
Bangladesh winger Rakib Hossain at the training session in Melbourne

World Cup preliminary round

Footballers attend first training session in Australia

The Bangladesh national football team had their first training session on Monday in Melbourne ahead of their FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary round-2 away match against host Australia.

The weather has been the main concern ever since the Bangladesh team arrived in Melbourne. Despite the cold situation Bangladesh team had their practice Monday afternoon local time. However, even after the practice, the coaching staff and the players discussed the weather repeatedly.

The booters left Dhaka for Melbourne five days before the match to adapt to the weather. The Bangladesh team left Dhaka on Friday last night and reached Melbourne on Saturday after travelling nearly twenty hours.

Although the other footballers of Bangladesh are facing trouble in this situation, skipper Jamal Bhuyan and Tariq Kazi are quite comfortable because these two footballers have long experience of living in Europe. So this cold weather could not have any adverse effect on the duo.

Bangladesh national football team defender Bishwanath Ghosh kicks the ball during the first training session in Melbourne on Monday

After the first practice captain Jamal said, “The weather is a bit cold here and many of the team are facing problems. Our game is at 8:00 pm. The temperature will fall further at that time. I hope everyone adapts to the condition. The boys are confident and ready for the match.”

Hasan Al Mamun, the former captain of the national team and assistant coach of the current team said "'It's very cold and windy here. The players are having trouble keeping the ball at their feet."

Bangladesh national football team head coach Javier Cabrera during the first training session in Melbourne on Monday

However he expressed hope that this problem would be fixed in time. Bangladesh will take on Australia in their away match on 16 November.