Bangladesh national football team will resume their preparation camp for the Asian Cup qualifiers Play-offs against Bhutan under the tutelage of its Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today. On the same day, the 43-year Belgian will also sign a three-month long contract with the Bangladesh Football Federation. The two-leg play-offs will be played on September 6 and October 10 in Dhaka and Thimpu respectively.
Out of the 33-member preliminary squad, 27 of them reported to Saintfiet at a city’s hotel on Sunday and five players, who are now traveling in Bhutan with Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra for their AFC Cup Play-offs Qualifiers, didn’t report.
Meanwhile, Russell forward and newly inclusion in the national team, Rummon Hossain also didn’t join the camp due to dengue fever.
Saintfiet will have 15 days of preparation time ahead of the home fixture on September 6 which will also give him an opportunity to assess his side in a FIFA International List-A match against hosts Maldives scheduled on September 1.
Bangladesh team will fly for Maldives on August 29 to play a warm-up game after a week-long training camp here in Dhaka.
‘For me it is very important to play in a friendly match,’ said the Belgian.
‘I was actually hoping for two friendlies but they [BFF] failed to organize it. I’m a new coach, I saw lot of matches and I had a one week training session.
‘Maldives are a strong opponent, Bangladesh played against Maldives last year. So I’m very happy with the initiative by the BFF.’
‘It will help me to analyse the quality of my players and to make my final decision about which player will play against Bhutan.’
-With New Age input
