National football team’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk De Kruif has whittled down his squad from 27 players to 24, releasing goalkeeper Ziaur Rahman and midfielders
Pranatosh and Mezbabul Haque Manik on Monday.
Zia, one of four goalkeepers in the squad, had to leave as the coach did not want so many goalkeepers, while midfielder Pranatosh was rested on the advice of the physician.
Pranatosh sustained a knee injury during Saturday’s practice match.
‘Midfielder Manik was released as Kruif has found a better option in his position,’ said manager Iqbal Hossain,
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Football Federation decided to appoint a foreign goalkeeping coach on a temporary basis for the national team as desired by the head coach.
It was learnt that the BFF has given Kruif a green signal to hire a goalkeeping coach as soon as possible.
The 24-member national team will leave for Thailand in the last week of July to play two practice matches against the Thailand national team but the schedules of the matches are yet to be finalised.
`Hopefully the national team will leave Dhaka on July 28 but the schedules of the matches are yet to be confirmed,’ said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag,
-With New Age input
