National footballers practice camp begins Wednesday

The isolation practice camp of the national football team for the remaining four Joint Qualification matches of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, begins on Wednesday (5 August) at Sara Resort in Gazipur.

Out of initially selected 36 booters, 12 new and comparatively junior booters will join the camp on the first day (Wednesday) while the remaining footballers are scheduled to join camp in batches on 6 and 7 August respectively depending on their Covid-19 test reports.

Three injured booters of Bashundhara Kings -- Masuk Mia Zony, Motin Mia and Atiqur Rahman Fahad--will not join camp as the club did not release them.

Bangladesh-origin Denmark citizen and Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan and Tariq Raihan Kazi, a player of Finland U-17 and U-19 team, who receive a fresh call for the Bangladesh national squad, will not able to join the camp on schedule as they failed to manage air tickets due to travel restriction to Bangladesh.

However, the BFF maintaining a close touch with two booters for make them available in Bangladesh at an earliest possible time.

Earlier, the BFF announced the 36-member preliminary squad on 26 July with a mixture of youth an experienced players , drafted by national head coach Jamie Day, includingfour fresh booters--Tariq Raihan Kazi (Bashundhara Kings) , Nazmul Islam Russel, MS Bablu (Bangladesh Police) and Sumon Reza (Uttar Baridhara).

The local players are out of the any footballing activities since last March due to outbreak of deadly Corona virus in the country. So, the BFF has decided to call a big squad of 36 members initially before it reduced to 23- member final squad.

Among the 36 booters, maximum 14 booters picked up from Bashundhara Kings, seven each from Dhaka Abahani and Saif SC, three from Chattagram Abahani, two each from Sheikh Russel KC and Bangladesh Police and one from Uttar Baridhara.

The selected footballers will join the practice camp under the local instructors as per guideline of the reappointed Head Coach of Bangladesh National Football Team Jamie Day, who is expected to arrive here on August 16 to take over the charge eyeing on some points from the matches playing a positive football.

As per the new schedule, Bangladesh will play Afghanistan India and Oman on 8 October, 12 and 17 November respectively in their home matches all at the Sylhet Stadium while they will meet the Asian champions Qatar in their lone away match on 13 Oct in Doha.

Earlier, Bangladesh started their campaign in FIFA and AFC joint qualifiers with a 0-1 defeat against Afghanistan in the first match in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on 10 September, conceded a 0-2 goals defeat against Asian champions Qatar in the second match in Dhaka on 10 October, played to a 1-1 draw against India in their third match in Kolkata on 15 October and conceded 1-4 goals defeat against Oman in the fourth match at the Seeb Sports Stadium in Al Seeb city of Oman on 14 November last year.

In the five-team Group E, Qatar is now leading the point table with 13 points from five matches while Bangladesh are at the bottom place with one point from four matches. Among others, Oman secured 12, Afghanistan 4 and India 3 points.

Selected 36 booters are: Custodians -Ashraful Islam Rana, Anisur Rahman Zico , Shahidul Islam Sohel and Pappu Hosssin.

Defenders- Tapu Barmon, Yesin Khan, Biswanath Ghosh, SusantaTripura, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Rayhan Hassan, Rahmat Mia, Yeasir Arafat, Tariq Raihan Kazi and Manjurul Rahman Manik,

Midfielders- Atiqur Rahman Fahad, Rabiul Hasan, Biplu Ahmed, Mohammad Ibrahim , Masuk Mia Zony, Mamunul Islam Mamun, Sohel Rana, Arifur Rahman, Riadul Hasan, Jamal Bhuiyan, Manik Hossain Mollah, Rakib Hossain and Nazmul Islam Russell .

Forwards- Mahbubur Rahman Sufil, Motin Miah, Towhidul Alam Sabuj, Saaduddin, Nabib Newaj Jibon, Faisal Ahmed Fahim, Mohammad Abdullah, MS Bablu and Sumon Reza.