Junior Bangladesh booters expressed hope of a good show in the Saff U-18 Championship 2019 as a 30-member contingent, including 23 players, fly for Nepal Wednesday morning to take part in the third edition of the event, scheduled to be held in Kathmandu from September 20-29.
Having been placed in three-team Group B, Bangladesh will kick off their campaign against Sri Lanka Saturday before taking on India next Wednesday.
Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Pakistan form the other group as the top two finishers from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
During the last edition in Bhutan two years ago, the tournament was played in accordance with the round-robin league format with the participation of five countries where Bangladesh beat India, Maldives and Bhutan but lost the only game against champion Nepal to finish as runners-up.
English head coach Andrew Turner said, “This is a different tournament. This is a different time. Every team want to win the championship and I also want to win.”
“I’m very much looking forward to the competition. We are all up. We put up lots of works, lots of data and lots of things will help us going to the tournament. We are ready to compete,” added the former Tottenham Hotspur winger.
Young Saif Sporting Club defender Yeasin Arafat was made the captain of the side.
The youngster said, “If we, the players, give our best effort and play our respective parts properly we can expect a good show in Nepal. If everyone can perform their best on the matchdays, we can win the title.”
