National team coach Fabio Lopez remained tightlipped over his starting XI for the forthcoming World Cup qualifying match against Kyrgyzstan, scheduled on Tuesday.
Bangladesh, who will face Central Asian opponents at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek, held training session twice on Sunday but the coach still left no clue over his team.Though cold and breeze in Bishkek made it difficult for the players to adapt, everyone tried to impress their coach to win a spot in the final team, according to defender Atiqur Rahman Meshu.
‘Coach told us every member in the 23-player squad are equal for him and will be selected on merit, so we all are working hard in the field to impress him,’ Meshu told New Age over the phone.
‘He [coach] showed nice personality both on and off the field and behaved with us like a friend that made our job easier.’
Bangladesh are suffering with their defence organisation as a couple of their regular defenders—Nasiruddin Chowdhury and Yeasin Khan— could not travel with the team due to injury and sickness.
Meshu, however, believed they were prepared well to cover up the duos against the hosts, who will start the match with physiological advantage after their win over Bangladesh by 3-1 in Dhaka on June 11.
Bangladesh have already played four matches in the Group-B campaign and earned only one point to be placed at the bottom of the points tally.
Of their remaining four matches, they will play three matches away from home, which makes it harder for them to improve their position.
Meshu said the coach asked them to concentrate more on transitional time, the time after receiving a ball, before launching an attack.
‘During the last two matches, we seemed clueless about what to do when we got the ball,’ said Meshu.
‘Coach told us to improve our attacking speed when we gain the ball and put pressure on opponents.’
Bangladesh will make their final training session at the match venue at 8:00pm local time today.
-With New Age input
