Day strikes perfect balance
Bangladesh coach Jamie Day yesterday made one alteration to his 20-member squad for the SAFF Championship, which begins Tuesday, bringing in third goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Ziko in place of young winger Rabiul Hasan.
Keeping three goalkeepers in the squad is mandatory for participating teams but Day had unofficially declared his squad with only two custodians -- Ashraful Islam Rana and Shahidul Alam Sohel -- on Saturday night.
The final squad will be submitted in the managers' meeting today.
"Unfortunately when I picked a squad of 20 players, I wanted two goalkeepers to be selected, preferring 18 outfield players rather than having three goalkeepers. The ruling wasn't made fully clear until this [Sunday] afternoon. Then we had to change," said the 38-year-old, who has now chosen 10 senior players and as many youngsters.
Earlier in the morning, after a training session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Day backed his senior players despite their dismal performance in the recent FIFA friendly against Sri Lanka, which the hosts lost 1-0 in Nilphamari.
"We need some older players in the SAFF [Championship] because we need their experience to guide the younger ones. We've got a good bunch of young lads who are the future of Bangladesh, but we've got to make sure they get a good experience from this and learn from the old ones as well.
"The younger ones are ahead of the older ones. The best XI will play, regardless of age. Everyone is clear about where we are and who has a chance of starting and getting in the team," explained Day, who excluded young guns like Jafar Iqbal, Rahmat Mia, Matin Mia, Fazle Rabbi and M Abdullah.
During the practice matches in Qatar and South Korea as well in the Asian Games, these young guns were not in Day's plans. The coach opted to pick all 11 footballers who played in the starting eleven of the Asian Games squad although Day sent Jafar, Abdullah and Rabiul Hasan as substitutes while Rahmat Mia played in the starting eleven against Uzbekistan in the tournament.
"They've done okay in the Asian Games. They [Jafar, Rahmat, Matin] worked hard over the last 12 weeks. They didn't play in the Asian Games. At the moment, there are better players in the squad and I've gone with the best 20 players I've seen over the last 12 weeks," added Day.
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