Bangladesh U23 football team arrive home from Palestine

Bangladesh U-23 football team returned home on Tuesday from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem after flying over three countries in around 24 hours following their participation in the AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers from July 19-23. Although Bangladesh’s results and performances didn't satisfy newly-appointed England-born Australia head coach Andrew Ord, the players and officials had a memorable campaign as this was the very first time any Bangladesh football team travelled and played in a tournament in war-torn Palestine. Like the other participating teams, Bangladesh stayed at the heart of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, which is around five miles away from Jerusalem. All the matches were held in Hebron, which is around an hour's journey from Bethlehem.

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Also read: Ord: Bangladesh players expect defeat even before game starts

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Bangladesh had to travel through Jordan and Israel before reaching Palestine and the same happened during their departure. They left Bethlehem on Monday at around midday and it took them seven hours to arrive in Jordan’s capital Amman, informed team manager Satyajit Das Rupu to Dhaka Tribune after returning home. The team had to stay in Allenby Bridge Crossing for three-four hours. The Allenby Bridge Crossing connects Israel to Jordan. “There were no hassles in the checkpoint like we had faced while entering Palestine. After crossing Palestine-Israel border, Israeli bus took us to Jordan border, which is no more than five-six kms. But we had to wait for three-four hours in Israeli border for the Jordan bus to arrive. We arrived in Jordan airport at 8pm and took our flight for Dubai at 10:10pm,” said Rupu.

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Also read: Bangladesh U23s finish campaign with 3-0 loss against host Palestine

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Bangladesh arrived in Palestine on July 17 and during their stay there, new Israeli security measures at the sensitive Jerusalem holy site paved the way for violence and riots. Rupu shared his experience. “There are different points in the city where the Palestinians usually protest. There is one point which was only 200-300 yards away from our hotel. After Israel decided to put metal detector at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, there was unrest at the point. After our first match, we had to return to the hotel through the back door. The roads were empty with no transports. There was a barricade around 100 yards away from the hotel,” said Rupu.