Bangladesh U23s face Nepal U23s Tuesday in football friendly

Bangladesh U-23 football team will take on host Nepal U-23 side in their lone friendly at ANFA Complex in Satdobato, Lalilpur on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of their participation in the AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers in Palestine later this month. Bangladesh, who will leave Nepal on Wednesday for Qatar for another friendly, will have the opportunity to test the players who have been training together for around three weeks.Before their departure, head coach Andrew Ord said he would need more time to select the captain for the Qualifiers but for the moment, Sohel Rana will be the skipper for Tuesday's friendly. “It is an important match. We need to prepare well for the qualifiers. Friendly will help us improve,” Ord was quoted as saying in the pre-match press conference to goalnepal.com. He continued, “I have followed team Nepal. It is not going to be an easy game. It is their home.”Sohel said they are a new team with only three senior players and want to win the game to boost their confidence ahead of the qualifiers. Bangladesh will face three strong opponents from Asia in Group E. They will begin their campaign against Jordan on July 19 before facing Tajikistan and Palestine on July 21 and 23 respectively. Nepal, on the other hand, were placed in Group D along with Uzbekistan, the UAE and Lebanon.

Local coaches to supervise U-18 football camp

Bangladesh head coach Andrew Ord is currently in Nepal with the U-23 national team and will be out of the country for the next two weeks but the England-born Australia coach will also take responsibility of the U-18 national side as soon as he returns.Local coaches Abdur Razzaq and Mahbub Hossain Roksy are his assistant and will deputise in his absence. Razzaq will guide the team in Ord's absence as the residential camp of the U-18 team is likely to begin on Wednesday at BKSP. “Thirty players were called up for the U-18 national team camp, which starts in BKSP [Wednesday], following reporting [Tuesday],” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag on Monday. “Four-five coaches from the technical department were given the responsibility while head of conditioning and strength department, John Whittle, will also be there. We hope to continue the camp till the premier league begins at the end of July,” he added. Among 30 players, 18 are from eight top-flight clubs while the rest hail from the second-tier league, BKSP and two districts - Jessore and Kurigram.