The daily routines of the footballers have been changed with no games to play for the indefinite time and when the local booters were off to their respective home spending the corona days with the family, some of the foreign footballers are trying their expertise in cooking while being stuck in the capital.
Couple of days within the Bangladesh Premier League got postponed, this reporter was happened to be in a tiny apartment of Old Dhaka, where Rahmatganj MFS’s Tajikistan defender Acpopov Asrorov and Uzbekistan forward Turaev Akobir have been staying since the season begun.
The house is only two-minute walk from the club. Asrorov, the man behind Rahmatganj’s historic campaign in the season opening Federation Cup where they reached the final for the first time in the club’s 87-year-old history, just got back to his apartment after shopping for groceries and was arranging them in the refrigerator.
The tastes of the central Asian duo are quite same and thus they do cook of their own not only in corona days but on regular basis. They now preserve foods more than they usually do.
The food habits of their African teammates – Guinean defender Camara Younoussa, Gambian forward Momodou Bah and Nigerian striker Igwe Kastan – are different. The trio has been staying in the empty club dormitory after all the local players have left.
“They [Camara, Bah, Kastan] don’t go out often. The staffs send them the foods and sometimes they buy from the nearby shops. They cook their own. They usually cook chicken, beef, potato and tomato etc.” said Rahmatganj manager Jamal Sardar to Dhaka Tribune on Monday.
Abahani’s attacking duo Sunday Chizoba (Nigeria) and Kervens Belfort (Haiti) are also staying in the empty club dormitory while Brazilian defender Mailson Alves, Kyrgyzstan midfielder Edger Bernhardt and Egyptian defender Allaeldin Eissa have been staying separately with their wives in Dhanmondi with only the latter one having a child.
“Sunday and Belfort like to cook their own. We managed all foodstuffs they asked for and kept them in front of their doors. Both eat rice. Belfort likes pasta and fish fry with sauce but Sunday is in no favour of sugar or spice.” said Tanvir Ahmed, assistant manager of Abahani.
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Sunday used to cook his stuffs before the heat of corona like the foreign recruits of Saif Sporting who are now locked in the club apartments in Mirpur DOHS. It also appeared like the central Asian players also don’t like spicy foods.
“There is 1500 taka daily food allowance for every player. The camp in charge brought them the foodstuffs from the markets and the foreign players always prepare their breads by their own.” said Saif Mahbub, the media manager of the club.
“The food habits differ from each player. Deiner Cordoba [Colombia] likes fish very much with French fries while Murolimzhon [Kyrgyzstan] never eat any spicy foods.” added Saif.
The foreign players of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club comprising Solomon King (Gambia), Ballo Famoussa (Ivory Coast), Yusuke Kato (Japan), Pa Omar Jobe (Gambia) and Osagie Monday (Nigeria) are living in the apartment close to the club.
Its manager Anwarul Karim Helal said, “We have chef to prepare their foods. But sometimes they brought foods from outside and sometimes they cook their own.”
Daniel Colindres, the only World Cup playing member in the BPL who represented Costa Rica in Russia 2018, also prepare his own food after being stuck alone in his apartment in Bashundhara since his hawife left Dhaka before the coronavirus rattled the country.
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“He watches TV, movies and do other stuffs to spend the leisure times,” said Bayazid Alam Zubair Nipu, the technical director of Bashundhara Kings. “Besides, he has been cooking his own at his house.”
A total 64 foreign players from around 23 countries signed for the 13 top-flight clubs among whom only four players including Bashundhara’s Argentine striker Hernan Barcos, Sheikh Russel’s Australian midfielder Christopher Herd, Saif Sporting’s Rwandan Emery Baisegne and lately on Monday, Police FC’s American striker Sidney Rivera managed to escape the foreign land.
The foreign coaches of the clubs who couldn’t fly back home like Mohammedan’s Sean Lane to Australia are being stuck in Dhaka and some of them also checking their cooking ability. Abahani’s Mario Lemos is staying in hotel so no needs of cooking but the club’s former coach Drago Mamic, the 66-year-old Croatian currently head coach of Saif, also prepared pasta yesterday.
Oscar Bruzon, the Spanish head coach of Bashundhara, is not ‘creative’ in the kitchen but he too makes pasta. While asked whether he cooks now a days, Bruzon replied, “Mostly salads and pasta. Unfortunately, I am not very creative in the kitchen.”
