Bangladesh Under-23 football team are likely to play two friendly matches in Singapore this week, ahead of the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers, scheduled to be held in Dhaka later this month.
Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif, who arrived in Dhaka last Thursday, sat in a meeting with Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin yesterday. Following the meeting, BFF supremo confirmed the development.
“We are trying to play two friendly matches before the Qualifiers. We already proposed officially to Singapore to host the friendlies and everything will be finalised in the next one or two days,” Salahuddin told the media yesterday.
“If everything goes well, the squad will fly to Singapore tomorrow and we are planning to play the first match this Wednesday,” he said.
After the meeting, De Kruif also spoke to the media and gave his views and observations regarding their Group E opponents – Uzbekistan, India and Syria - in the upcoming Qualifiers.
“Everything is possible in football. India are on the same level with us but Syria are a very strong team and they are currently training in Dubai. Uzbekistan are the best team in Group E and they are the favourites too,” said De Kruif before adding, “The major problem of our team is that most of the players don’t get the chance to have enough playing time throughout most of the season. It is tough to put such a team in one row and keep them organised.”
Bangladesh’s new goalkeeping coach, Christian Schweichler, also spoke on the occasion. “The time is very short. I only watched three sessions and what I learned is that the goalkeepers have tactical problems. They also need to work on positioning sense. Fitness and skill are good but we need time to develop positioning sense,” said Schweichler.
