The Bangladesh national team footballers were confident about exhibiting their brand of football in the forthcoming SAFF Football Championship although they admitted it will be a difficult proposition to leapfrog favourite teams like India and Nepal.
The national team have been preparing themselves in Thailand for the SAFF Championship, which will commence on September 1 where Bangladesh will face hosts Nepal, six-time champions India and Pakistan in the group stage.
Newly-appointed captain Mamunul Islam was of the opinion that his team were the weakest in group A whilst also branded it as the ‘group of death’.
‘In terms of strength, we are the fourth best team in the group while India are the favourites because they are the defending champions. Host Nepal are also the favourites while Pakistan are a bit similar to us,’ said Mamunul on Thursday.
‘However, we will do our best as we are all trying hard to follow the plans of the coach,’ he added.
Meanwhile, after the training session veteran forward Zahid Hasan Ameli remarked that they were totally focused on the SAFF Championship.
‘This is a death group but we are focusing on each match and we will try to play good football,’ said Ameli before adding that, ‘our opponents [Osotspa Saraburi] in the first practice match were a better side who had good local and foreign players but we are progressing with each passing day.’
The Bangladesh national side fell to a 2-1 defeat in their first practice game of the Thailand tour two days ago at the Saraburi Central Stadium.
Although striker Sakhawat Hossain Rony recognised the task at hand, he refused to bow down to pressure.
‘We all know that the group is pretty hard. We have been training for quite a while now and that will enable us to play a good game. I don’t think the players are suffering from the pressure of the tough group. We have to be strong both mentally and physically,’ he said.
-With New Age input
