Bangladesh national team footballers started their training camp on Sunday for their forthcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Asian Champions Australia and Jordan on September 3 and 8 respectively. The team will play a play a friendly match in Malaysia against the country’s national side on August 26 as part of their preparation before they reach Australia.National team coach Lodewijk De Kruif was forced to make a last moment change in his 23-member squad as defender Nasiruddin Chowdhury is suffering from dengue fever.
Kruif picked forward Aminur Rahman Sazib, who was earlier dropped from the squad due to poor performance in the domestic league, in place of Nasiruddin.
‘I am happy to see all the players present here,’ said the Dutch coach, ‘we are focused on three matches —Malaysia, Australia and Jordan.’
Kruif believed that the players are tired as they have just completed the Bangladesh Premier League and he didn’t have enough time to conduct a conditioning camp to recover their fatigue.
‘We don’t have enough time to conduct any conditioning camp rather we want to bring good feeling among the team,’ said the coach.
‘Result is not important for us as we have to face some big opponents including number one team in Asia.
National team skipper Mamunul Islam was excited with the opportunity of playing against a side that regularly features in the World Cup.
‘We are really lucky to face the best team in Asia,’ said the midfielder.
‘Everyone has been saying that we will go there only for conceding a series of goals but we are thinking differently.
‘We are determined to perform our best and prove that we have been improving.’
Comparing to that of Australia, Mamunul admitted the reality that two teams have a a gulf of difference in terms of quality.
‘They are consistently displaying eye-catching football since the last World Cup and there is a vast different between the two footballing nations,’ Mamunul said.
-With New Age input
