Bangladesh football team’s Italian head coach Fabio Lopez wants to display their recent development when they face Kyrgyzstan in the 2018 Fifa World Cup second round qualifier away in Bishkek this Tuesday.
Lopez informed this to the media at BFF House yesterday during the unveiling of the Bangladesh 23-member squad for the upcoming Russia World Cup qualifier.
“We respect Kyrgyzstan, but don’t fear them. I expect that Bangladesh will play a new style of football and show a lot of improvement on the pitch,” said Lopez.
“In Italy, we say, football is round for everyone. How to play with a football actually depends on the person himself. I can assure that, the overall team preparation is pretty good, and players are trying their level best to improve themselves,” he added.
Bangladesh have already played out half of their qualifiers, losing three times with the other match ending in an 1-1 draw against Tajikistan.
In a bid to improve their performance, Lopez has introduced the software “Matrics Technology” for the very first time in the national side. The software calculates how much a player runs during match-time or practice.
“Shakhawat Hossain Rony has run more than six kilometres during practice. His power increased in the last 30 minutes. So I have picked him in the squad,” Lopez said, alluding to the obvious benefits of the technology.
There were however, no places in the squad for veteran forward Jahid Hasan Ameli, pacey right winger Zahid Hossain and exciting midfielder Sohel Rana, who were all ruled out due to injury.
Lopez though refused to be downtrodden with the absence of several first-team players and instead pointed out the positives from the 23-man squad.
“I am not concerned with my attacking line. Youngsters like Nabib Newaj Jibon are hard working and different types of players. I will plot my plan with them. We want to play good football,” said Lopez.
Among other changes, Lopez has changed the position of talismanic central midfielder and national captain Mamunul Islam. Mamunul will now play at the right flank, instead of his preferred central position.
“The reason behind the change is, the responsibility of supplying passes from the midfield has been shifted from me. Earlier, I tried to deliver 80-90 percent of my passes from the midfield. Now, I will try to supply 40-50 percent approximately. It will bring variation in our attack and I can be relieved from my work-load as well,” said Sheikh Jamal DC’s Mamunul before adding, “Besides that, the coach has been working closely in order to strengthen our defence line. This is new to us. We are going to Kyrgyzstan with a positive hype and we are ready to fight.”
