The preparation camp of the Bangladesh football team for the two-match Fifa international friendly series against Sri Lanka begins today at BKSP, Savar.
The men in Red and Green will start the training camp without their Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif and his assistant Rene Koster. The Dutch duo, who went for a vacation following the conclusion of the 17th Asian Games and were expected to arrive before the camp, delayed their arrival and are now likely to return to Dhaka this Tuesday. Assistant coach Saiful Bari Titu will be in charge of the national side in the absence of De Kruif and Koster.
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) had earlier announced a 28-member preliminary squad for the two friendlies. With the exception of three players – skipper Mamunul Islam Mamun, expatriate footballer Jamal Bhuiyan and defender Atiqur Rahman Meshu – all the others will report to Titu today.
Mamunul is currently in Kolkata with Indian Super league (ISL) franchise Atletico de Kolkata. As the ISL is scheduled to get underway this Sunday, Titu believes Mamunul has very little chance of playing in the friendlies. Jamal is in Denmark and will join the camp soon while Meshu is currently sidelined due to an injury he incurred before the Asiad men’s football had begun.
The 28-man squad includes three new faces in Brothers Union defender Mezbahuddin, Rahamatganj goalkeeper Samiul Islam Masum and Chittagong Abahani’s Under-23 midfielder Atikur Rahman Fahad.
The national footballers are returning to football action after a 17-day break following their Asian Games campaign which ended on September 22.
“Our main target is to maintain the level of Asiad performance against Sri Lanka. If we keep up the speed and fitness, we will be favourites and perform better against Sri Lanka,” said Titu yesterday.
The two matches are scheduled to be played in Jessore and Rajshahi on October 24 and 27 respectively.