Bangladesh’s national football team drew inspiration from the seeing the Fifa World Cup trophy and looked forward to working hard to achieving the goal of one day playing at the mega event.
With national head coach Lodewijk de Kruif already in Holland enjoying his Christmas vacation, assistant coach Rene Koster accompanied the team. It was an unfortunate incident for the national booters as they did not receive their instant snapshots with the trophy due to some technical glitches.
National skipper Mamunul Islam felt the national booters can draw motivation from the trophy. “We have the vision of Qatar 2022, the national team are the first frontier of achieving the target. I think the national players can draw inspiration to make it for the nation in the future,” said Mamunul.
Long serving national goalkeeper Biplob Bhattacharjee, who played his first World Cup qualifiers back in 1997, thought the dream of playing in the finals of the World Cup will be realized in the future. “We could not think of getting so close to the World Cup trophy, maybe we are short of the standards but we have the dream of being there. I hope Bangladesh will proceed on the right track to be in the finals one day,” he said.
Experienced forward Zahid Hasan Emily was amazed. “It’s one of the greatest moment in my career. I feel the pulse of the thousands who have gathered here. They all came here for the love of the game, not the trophy. We should work hard to propel football to the next stage to create the ladder for moving up,” said Emily.
While Biplob and Emily are of the older generation, the young generation national booters like Wahed and Raihan were also seeking inspiration from the most coveted sports trophy on the planet. “I have never thought of getting a snapshot with the World Cup trophy. It was a great pleasure for me, it made me feel like winning it for the country,” said young forward Wahed. “I have seen the trophy in the hands of the great players like Ronaldo, Zidane and others, getting so close to it left me excited,” said defender Raihan.
