The official announcement of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football schedule will be made once Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin returns after attending the Asian Football Confederation Extra Ordinary Congress in Melbourne, Australia on January 9.
“I will confirm all the aspects after returning from Australia,” Salahuddin said while speaking to the media at the BFF office yesterday. “The Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football will be held in January no doubt, but we never finalised the kick off date officially and we always said it will take place in the third week. It appeared in the media to kick off on January 16, 2015 but it was tentative, not final,” he added.
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Bahrain Under-23 have confirmed their participation alongside the hosts which keeps the BFF busy in still trying to secure the last team in the six-nation event. It was learnt, Nepal responded positively to the call and they are set to complete the tournament line-up.
The Bangladesh national football, however, began their preparation camp for the Bangabandhu Gold Cup under interim coach Saiful Bari Titu at the BKSP yesterday. Struck down with fever skipper Mamunul Islam did not join the camp while Jamal Bhuiyan flew to his home in Denmark and the midfielder will join his compatriots on Sunday.
Meanwhile, BFF also kept the return of coach Lodewijk de Kruif under a mystery as no air ticket was sent to the Dutch till yesterday. Earlier BFF sources said de Kruif, who was sacked in October 2014 from the position of head coach, is scheduled to arrive on January 3, tomorrow, but no movement inside the federation is diminishing the chances.
Interim coach Titu, however, is optimistic of leading the side at least to the semifinals irrespective of the calibre of their opponent. “We will work hard and tune up to face the hardest challenges, I have every hope that the players will gear up to put a good show in a major tournament like Bangabandhu Gold Cup, the motivation should me more.”
Though, Titu too was concerned about the kick off date and said, “A confirmed date is very important, we need to focus on the practice matches and I want two practice matches ahead of the tournament.”
