‘Form is temporary, class is permanent’– one of the oldest clichés in sports befitted footballer Enamul Haque as the 32-year forward has earned a recall in Bangladesh national football team for next month’s World Cup qualifiers in Dhaka. Enamul, once a top forward of the Bangladesh national football team, last played for the country against Chinese Taipei in 2010-11 before he lost his place in the team due to injury.
But the ace forward’s blistering form with his present club Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra in prompted national coach Lodewijk de Kruif to recall him after a gap of five years.
The 32-member preliminary squad for Bangladesh’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Asian Cup and two warm-up matches against Singapore and Afghanistan was announced on Tuesday.
‘It feels really great to be back to represent the national team again,’ an ecstatic Enamul told reporters on Wednesday.
‘The last time I played for Bangladesh in 2010-11 against Chinese Taipei in the Asian Games where we lost the match. Since then I have been waiting for this day’, said the striker, currently the joint top scorer of the Bangladesh Premier League with seven goals
Enamul, who also scored five goals in Federation Cup, spoke about his torrid time away from the national team when he transformed himself as ‘attacking midfielder’ from an out and out striker.
‘I was with Abahani in 2011 but couldn’t play any game due to injury and when I recovered in the following year I had to stay in the bench regularly.’
‘ I thought if I continue playing as substitute I would never return to national team so I moved to Muktijoddha to play regular football,’ said Enamul.
‘I wanted to continue playing in the starting eleven for Muktijoddha. If I had to play as a striker I wouldn’t have a chance in every match. That’s why I prepared myself playing as an attacking midfielder role which gave me more confidence.’
He added that during the start of the season (2015) he felt that if he could do well for his club he would return to the national team.
‘This [2015] is one of the most important seasons in my career but I was in better form with Abahani in 2009-10 season where I scored 24 goals. The previous season I netted 14 with Farashganj,’ he said.
‘I always had faith that if I perform well I will get into the national team. I believed that if I can score goals whichever team I play I would return to the team,’ said the striker.
‘Titu bhai adviced me to take the best preparation and I tried to perform better and better and get back to scoring form,’ Enamul acknowledge his coach deeply.
‘Now my target is to continue this goal scoring form,’ said the confident striker.
-With New Age input
