Bangladesh will leave for Nepal today without naming squad
Head coach Lodewijk de Kruif is yet to announce his final 20-member squad as the Bangladesh national team will leave Dhaka today with 21 players ahead of the 10th SAFF Football Championship in Nepal. With the regional football competition slated to kick off on August 31, Dutch coach De Kruif decided to depart with 21 players due to an injury concern over captain Mamunul Islam, who hurt himself in the national side’s practice match against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club on Wednesday.
Due to Mamunul’s right knee injury, the Dutchman picked midfielder Monayem Khan Raju whose participation in the competition is doubtful as he was not selected in the preliminary squad, which was submitted on August 20.
Raju, who was originally drafted in as a replacement for the ailing defender Kesto Kumar, might not feature as SAFF secretary Alberto Colaco said a player will not be eligible to take part if he is not in the preliminary list.
Meanwhile, national team doctor Imran informed reporters over the phone that Mamunul might be fit for the tournament opener against Nepal on August 31 after MRI tests showed the skipper was out of danger.
De Kruif, however, did not want to take any risks as he is scheduled to submit the 20-member final squad before the managers’ meeting on August 29 or 30.
The Dutch head coach was confident that his side will exhibit enterprising football but he refused to elaborate whether Bangladesh will target the regional football title.
‘It would be very stupid to tell something about winning the trophy. We will do our best because we have talented players. We want to fight for the country. We don’t want to disappoint anyone so we will give everything we can,’ said the coach at a press conference on Saturday.
‘I’m not going to talk about a final place or the semifinals or whatever. Of course we will go there to win as we are sportsmen,’ he added.
De Kruif went on to say that he was still in the dark about finalising the 20-member squad for the tournament.
‘I took my time to select the final squad. There were several reasons. The most important reason is we are still facing injuries,’ he said.
‘The captain [Mamunul] suffered an injury in the last match. That is why I like to keep my squad as big as possible. We will continue to monitor if [Mamunul] is fit,’ he added.
De Kruif played down expectations noting that India were the absolute favourites in the group and that Bangladesh had an outside chance, along with Pakistan, to progress from the group stage.
‘We are outsiders along with Pakistan. The favourites are India. They are well-organised, spend a lot of money. Nepal are playing at home, so they are strong too,’ De Kruif said.
‘Don’t think that I don’t want to win. I’m a sportsman so I always like to win. Everybody in the team wants to win, so does the BFF who are working very hard. Hopefully we will succeed in Nepal,’ said the 43-year old coach.
The Dutch coach explained why he did not pick the final squad before leaving the country.
‘Three weeks ago we learnt that we have to pick a 20-member squad so we had to change our direction again. When you have 23 players you can have two players in each position. Now we have to use players who can play in several positions,’ he said.
De Kruif has also expressed his intention of resting players who are recovering from fatigue.
‘We are working very hard. From this moment we have to put the gas off a bit and prepare in every area. We have to rehearse what we have done, but not high pressure. What we can do now is to stay fit physically and mentally and prepare well,’ said the coach.
After the opening game against the hosts on August 31, Bangladesh will face India on September 3 before tackling Pakistan two days later.
-With New Age input
