Football activities have been halted in the country for nearly seven months now.
Bangladesh head coach Jamie Day seems to be happy to be back with the friendlies against Nepal, scheduled to be held in Dhaka during the November Fifa window.
The English tactician spoke to the reporters during the national team management committee’s zoom conference.
He said, “It’s a good start in place for us to begin. We want to win games but it’s about everyone get back playing and get football back in Bangladesh. That’s good to start building process for next year where it’s going to be very competitive with lots of games and competitions.”
Except the players of Bangladesh Premier League champion Bashundhara Kings, the rest of the members of the 36-member national camp were out of team practice since the pandemic suspended the league in mid-March.
“We are asking players to play after seven months. Some players wouldn’t be ready and just stepped in to play. Some players take three/four/five games to get back to performance level they were before. So we are going into two games unknown. My job in 20 days is to get them in the best possible shape for both games,” said Day.
“Both teams are going to be very similar in terms of fitness because preparation time is same for both sides. The one who prepares best in short time and be injury free will get results,” he added.
Assistant coach Stuart Watkiss also admitted that fitness is going to be the key of preparation.
He said, “First we have to find out where the fitness levels are. Then we start fitness program along with technical and tactical program. So it’s not going to be preparation of football’s point of view but preparation from fitness point of view. It’s going to be quite a delicate balance in order to get everything right.”
Both the English coaches are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh next Thursday, a few days after the start of the national team practice camp.
Nepal team also this week got permission from their government to start training procedures.