bangladesh football - Dhaka Mirror

Women make it lively in a dull year

Admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 05:13:00 +0000

The incredible cheers that exploded at the Kamalapur stadium after Anai Mogini’s long-ranger beat India goalkeeper, it just represents the desire to be proud of sporting excellence the sports-crazy nation.
The fans’ longing was fulfilled when they witnessed the young girls make laps around the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium with the national flag after retaining the SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship title, with the players’ roar only drowned out by the even clamorous and enthusiastic crowd.
In a year that offered very little takeaway from the sporting arena, it was those moments gifted by the young women footballers that certainly lifted the nation’s spirit. And also when news broke out that Nigar Sultana and Co will be heading to New Zealand next year to represent the country in their maiden ODI World Cup,
there was much to be proud of.
Be it in cricket, football or any other sport, undoubtedly, it was the women’s accolades that presented the very few celebratory moments to the country’s sports lovers.
How incredible were the achievements of the likes of Mogini, Maria Manda, Jahanara and Sharmin can be gauged from facts that these girls flourished despite minimal resources, severe infrastructural scarcity and under boards that kept on hitting new lows throughout the year.
No doubt, the ever-glorified men’s sides, especially the considerably privileged men’s cricket team, also offered fans plenty of moments to cherish. But unfortunately, those only ended up serving a false impression of success that only culminated in providing the country its biggest sporting disappointment this year —
banishment from the UAE without a single win in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
Even the story of men’s football team entails a similar sorry story. Jamal Bhuiyan and Co failed to make a mark in the World Cup qualifiers in Qatar and was subjected to agonising last-minute exits from the SAFF Championship and the Four Nations Trophy in Sri Lanka.
However, at least the male athletes will have some explanation for their apparent dismal year — that they gave their best out on the field. But the governing bodies of the two most popular sports will probably have very little to say in their defence.
While the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) ended the better part of the year without a static coaching panel, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) kept on setting hilarious examples.
From their penchant of not addressing the elephant in the room — the country’s fragile domestic structure the case in point — to playing the blame game after every debacle, the Nazmul Hassan-led BCB ended the year with another farce.
The cricket’s governing body of Bangladesh offered yet another shambolic players’ draft of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
And in the chaotic fashion that the tournament started, with BCB being forced to take over one of the ownership at the eleventh hour after failing to secure a franchisee, only promises that Bangladesh’s already struggling domestic cricket awaits yet another disappointing start to the next year as the cracks in the frail system
only keep widening.
There were, however, rays of hope in a few other less appreciated sports. Ruman Sana and Diya Siddique secured silver medal in the recurve mixed team event of the Archery World Cup while Diya and Hakim Ahmed Rubel bagged silver for the first time ever in the prestigious Asian championships.
Also, once a leading sport, hockey returned to the turf after a three-year hiatus through the Club Cup and Premier League before Bangladesh successfully hosted the prestigious Asian Champions Trophy for the first time.
But still, as the clock ticks down on 2021, it certainly is the girls’ achievements that will remain the highlight of the year. The ambition now will be that the sports which made strides keep on achieving new heights. And also that the two elite sporting entities of the country inject themselves with the similar spirited attitude
shown by the girls and, like them, thrive despite the setbacks.

-With The Daily Star input

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Draw against India in SAFF boost for Bangladesh

Admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:37:09 +0000

Bangladesh national football team is beaming with confidence after their morale-boosting 1-1 draw against tournament favourites India in their 2021 SAFF Championship league phase match at the National Football Stadium in Maldives, Male on Monday.
The draw was even sweeter for Oscar Bruzon’s charges as they did it with 10-man and a goal down.
Bangladesh started their campaign in the five-nation tournament with a solitary goal victory against Sri Lanka on October 1 before the draw against seven-time champions India, who are 82 places ahead of Bangladesh in FIFA rankings.
Bruzon’s charges remain unbeaten and are in second place of the table with four points, two points behind table toppers Nepal, who beat Sri Lanka 3-2 on Monday after a 1-0 win against hosts and defending champions Maldives in their first match.
With one point, India are placed third ahead of Maldives as both played one match each while Sri Lanka are unofficially out of the race to the final with two losses.
With the draw against India, the men in red and green have now started to believe that they could go further in the tournament.
Their next two games are against Maldives and Nepal respectively on October 7 and 13 at the same venue.
Against Sri Lanka and India, defenders Topu Barman and Yeasin Arafat scored one goal each. Bangladesh forward Matin Mia said that the team’s strikers are inspired by the defenders contribution in the first two matches and are keen to take up the goal-scoring onus from the next game.
‘The results are a huge boost and it has increased my confidence level. Goals from defenders are inspiring for us [forwards]. They did it in the last two games, now it’s our time to show that we can do it too,’ said Matin after Tuesday’s training session at the Henveiru Training Pitch in Male.
Bangladesh will miss the services of two defenders against the Maldives — Bishwanath Ghosh, who got a red card in the 54th minute against India, and Razaul Karim, who is suffering from fever.
Meanwhile, Bruzon, who has been given the national team’s charges for this tournament in place of English coach Jamie Day, seemed overjoyed in his comments after the hard fought draw on Monday.
‘I want to say that Bangladesh football is alive, so let’s go and get more points from the tournament…We believe in our players and our country…We are going to play a very tough opponent, the Maldives, in the next match,’ said Bruzon in the post-match press conference.
‘We said before that every problem we have should make us stronger and that’s what I am trying to communicate [to the players], that we are an unbeatable force when we play with one mind,’ continued Bruzon.
Indian coach Igor Stimac congratulated Bangladesh for the draw terming the game as an interesting one.
‘It was a good and interesting match and I want to congratulate both India and Bangladesh for presenting a nice match here.’

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10-man Bangladesh hold India to a draw

Admin — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 15:49:35 +0000

10-man Bangladesh snatched a point against tournament favourites India as their group phase match of the SAFF Championship ended in a 1-1 draw at the Male National Football Stadium in Maldives on Monday.
India captain Sunil Chhetri gave Indians the lead in the 26th minute and Bangladesh’s dreams of bouncing back into the contest got slimmer when their defender Bishwanath Ghosh got sent in the 54th minute.
But Oscar Bruzon’s resilient charges showed tremendous spirit as they kept India from asserting their dominance with a one-man advantage.
The Bangladesh team got rewarded for their unwavering spirit when defender Yeasin Arafat sent the ball home in the 74th minute from a corner, which earned Bangladesh an invaluable point against the seven-time SAFF champions.
Jamal Bhuiyan’s team kept out the Indian side for the remaining minutes and even had a chance of snatching a victory in the extra time but the Indian defenders cleared the ball from the box in time.
With the draw, Bangladesh are now topping the five-team table with four points.
They had earlier defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in the tournament opener.

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Jamal, MSC take swipe at BFF

Admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 12:57:45 +0000

The senior officials of Bangladesh Premier League clubs Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi and Mohammedan Sporting Club came down heavily on the Bangladesh Football Federation on Friday after it decided to drop Super Cup and Independence Cup from domestic calendar. Manzur Kader, the president of Jamal and Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, the director in charge of Mohammedan Sporting Club, said they will take the matter to their club association and will compel the BFF to hold the tournaments.
‘We love football and we want to play. So, we will not accept the BFF’s decision,’ Kader told New Age on Friday.
‘We will sit together and if needed we will force them [BFF] to hold the tournaments.’
Kader blasted some BFF officials, saying that they are rather busy to improve their personal profile by rushing to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation without giving proper attention to local football.
‘We spend millions to form a team, but some of them if not all act as if we are their slave,’ he said.
‘They have no interest to improve the game, rather they are busy in attending the FIFA and AFC congress and dinner parties.
‘They don’t love football but we love it and we will do everything to keep the game alive.’
The BFF’s professional league committee on Thursday said that they could not hold this season’s Super Cup and Independence Cup because of the busy schedule of the national football team and the forthcoming Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup.
MSC director Lokman echoed the same sentiment and condemned BFF decision of dropping Super Cup and the Independence Cup.
‘We invest a huge amount of money to form a football club only because for the development of football,’ Lokman told New Age.
‘But when we see them [BFF] taking such odd decisions against us it’s really unfortunate.
‘Not a single club will accept the decision and we will protest against it.
‘They [BFF] have decided not to host the Super Cup which is the most popular tournament in domestic football.
‘Each and every club’s always wait to participate in this [Super Cup] prestigious tournament but BFF excluded it.’

-With New Age input

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BFF to programme talent hunt

Admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 10:08:22 +0000

The Bangladesh Football Federation has finally realised that without the nurturing of age-level footballers from grass-root level across the country, it is impossible to be successful in world football.
As a result, the BFF’s development committee on Saturday took some notable decisions to start age-level programmes considering the busy international schedules in future.Earlier in this year, Bangladesh Under-16 national football team clinched the SAFF Under-16 Championship title that forced the BFF high-ups to focus on the grass-root level.
The AFC Under-14, 16 and 19 championship qualifiers will be held next year and BFF has decided to send their teams in those tournaments as well as decided to participate in the Asian Youth Football tournament, to be held in the same year.
Before that, the organisation will form an Under-12 national team ahead of the Super Mokh Cup football festival, scheduled to be held in Malaysia on December 7-11.
BFF’s development committee chairman Badal Roy on Saturday said that they want to send the Under-14, 16 and 18 players in their National Academy in Sylhet for long term preparation.
He also informed that the BFF is going to start a year-long training programme after the youth and sports ministry have decided to provide financial support to it.
‘National Sports Council will provide us with a small amount from the Tk 20 crore that they will receive from the sports ministry for training purpose for all the sports,’ Badal told reporters on Saturday.
‘This money will be used for two separate U-14 and U-16 tournaments and we will also bring them under a year-long training programme.’
Badal added that they are going to merge the ongoing Bangabandhu Gold Cub Primary School Football tournament and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Primary School Football tournament, organised by ministry of primary and mass education to scout football talents.
‘The nation-wide tournaments provide a huge number of footballing talents across the country. So that we have decided to scout the players for a long-term training,’ said Roy.

-With New Age input

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‘Injured’ Hemanta in hot water

Admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 05:11:08 +0000

The Bangladesh Football Federation on Friday issued a show cause notice to national team’s injured midfielder Hemanta Vincent Biswas for playing an unauthorised match in Dinajpur without prior permission from national team management. Hemanta led Dinjpur Sadar team in a local tournament on September 16 while nursing a hamstring injury that he received during Bangladesh’s World Cup qualifying match against Australia.
He remained absent from the national team camp duo to the injury.
He was excepted to report team‘s Italian coach on September 20.
National team manager Iqbal Hossain said Hemanta was asked to give his reply by Saturday.
‘We asked him to give his answer by tomorrow [today]. Then the BFF’s National team’s committee will take a decision about him.’
Hemanta argued that he was in the field only for 10 minutes.
‘Dinajpur is my home town. So, I could not turn down the request from the local organisers,’ Hemnta told New Age over phone. ‘They wanted me to take the captain’s armband. But I was in the field for barely 10 minutes. I am realising now that I made a mistake.’
Earlier in 2011, strikers Zahid Hasan Ameli and Mithun Chowdhury were heavily penalised for playing a match in Manikganj while on national team duty before the 2014 World Cup pre-qualifying match against Lebanon.

-With New Age input

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Lopez gets into business with charges

Admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 09:30:08 +0000

New Bangladesh national football team coach Fabio Lopez got into business on Thursday as he conducted his first training session since taking over the charge this month.
The Italian has got three weeks time to pick up a 23-member side and prepare them for his first assignment against Kyrgyzstan in the World Cup qualifying match away in Bishkek on October 13.
Lopez had 37 players available among 41-member preliminary squad in his first training session at the Bangladesh Football Federation’s artificial turf.
Midfielder Jamal Bhuiyan did not join the camp as he is currently in Denmark while midfielders Hemantha Vincent Biswas and Shahedul Alam Shahed are recovering from injuries.
Newly-included midfielder Mashuk Miah Jony also could not join the camp as he is busy training with the national Under-19 team, which will participate in AFC qualifiers later this month.
Lopez said he will observe the technical and individual skills of the players in practice games during the camp before selecting his final squad.
‘We have now above 40 players so that we didn’t do the full programme of training,’ Lopez said after his first training session.
‘We just made it like a scouting session today. We will watch them for the next three to four days and then we will try to choose the best 23.
‘Just observing four days, it’s difficult to choose the right players as I am also a new man and as a human being I can make mistakes. But we will try our best to choose the best players.
‘We will choose those players for the final 23 who play in the first XI in their respective clubs,’ said the coach.
‘I don’t want to let those players in my XI who seat most of the time in bench for their clubs. Second thing is, the players must be fit and healthy.
‘I don’t want to talk about them who are yet to join the camp. Of course, who are training everyday and make sacrifices will have better chance than the other players.’
Lopez said he was not scared to see Bangladesh in a difficult group in the upcoming SAFF Football Championship where they have to compete with defending champions Afghanistan, Maldives and Bhutan in Group-B.
‘The group is very strong and every match is difficult. I know some team [Maldives] have good players but I think we are good too. I respect every team but I am not afraid of them,’ said the coach.
Right-back Nasirul Islam Nasir said they are eager to show their best to impress the new coach.
‘As a professional footballer I have to adapt to the new thinking and it’s natural that one exits and another replaces. Now we will follow the instruction of our present coach,’ said the defender.
‘At this level, we have to fight all the time, so we will have to battle each other in the field to impress the coach.
‘Nobody in the preliminary squad came here prepared to give any concession and every single player wants to make the final spot.’

-With New Age input

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Salauddin motivates U-16 boys

Admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 06:08:57 +0000

Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin delivered an inspirational speech on Monday to the Under-16 national football team ahead of their AFC Under-16 Championship qualifiers that starts from Wednesday in Dhaka. The SAFF Under-16 Championship winners Bangladesh will compete with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates respectively on September 16 and 18 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Salahuddin met the players and took his lunch with them, who impressed the BFF boss a lot by claiming the SAFF title in last month at Sylhet.
Salahuddin asked the boys to be fearless against their opponents and hailed them for their achievements.
‘Don’t fear your opponents,’ said, Salahuddin, one of the finest footballers in Bangladesh history.
‘You will play in our own ground against the players who are same age to you. You proved that you are a good team and I am really proud of you.’

-With New Age input

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Mamunul focuses on future

Admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:20:04 +0000

National football team skipper Mamunul Islam rued the mistakes against Jordan but he wants to keep them aside now and focus on the forthcoming Kyrgyzstan game on October 13 at Bishkek.
Bangladesh have played four games, including three in the home, so far in their current campaign of World Cup qualifiers to fetch just a single point by drawing against Tajikistan in Dhaka.
They lost to Australia and Jordan by big margins though they had chances to score against the Arab nation.
Those misses left Mamunul frustrated.
‘We had about five chances,’ Mamunul told reporter on Wednesday. ‘If we could convert them things would be different while all the goals we conceded were due to defensive error. With little more care we could have saved them, but we couldn’t,’ he added.
Mamunul believes with more matches against team like Jordan is the only way to improve their abilities.
‘With more matches against strong teams like Jordan we can amend our mistakes and by doing so our differences will be engulfed,’ said the midfielder.

-With New Age input

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Sailor U-15 final today

Admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 13:27:08 +0000

Narayanganj will take on Feni in the final of the Sailor BFF Under-15 National Football Championship at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.
The match kicks off at 5:00pm and BTV World will live telecast the final.
After two-and-half-a-month of constant football, the nationwide tournament, involving 61 districts and around 12,000 players, the finalists expressed their huge confidence to lift the title.
Both Narayanganj and Feni reached the final of the tournament after defeating Sylhet and Dhaka through penalty shoot-outs in their respective semi-finals.
In the first semi-final, Narayanganj ousted Sylhet 5-4 in tie-breaker after the stipulated 90 minutes ended in 1-1 draw while Feni got the better of Dhaka in the second semi-final 5-4 in sudden death after the normal time ended in a goalless draw.
Narayanganj reached the final with only 14 players as they had to exclude the rest of their players from the squad before the final round due to over-age.

-With New Age input

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