Bangabandhu Gold Cup: 5 forwards in Day's squad
Bangladesh football team coach Jamie Day included five forwards in his 23-member squad for the upcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup following the frontline's failure to score against Nepal in the SAFF Championship earlier this month.
The team was announced yesterday afternoon.
Day called up four new strikers in Nabib Newaj Jibon, Towhidul Alam Sabuz, Matin Miah and Jabed Khan to go along with Mahbubur Rahman Sufil and Shakhawat Hossain Rony in his 31-member preliminary squad. Rony, who had been a part of the 20-member SAFF Championship squad, was however ultimately axed from the team.
Experienced marksmen Jibon and Sabuz, as well as the promising Matin, had participated in the training camps for the Asian Games and the SAFF Championship but were not considered for either tournament. On the other hand, newcomer Javed Khan found a place in the national side for the first time despite missing out on those camps.
The 38-year-old coach had previously kept his faith on Sufil and Rony for the SAFF Championship but neither forward could equalise the margin in their crucial match against Nepal, forcing Bangladesh out of the tournament by virtue of goal difference.
The time though, the Englishman seemingly wants to rely on a number of strikers despite saying that it also falls on the rest of the team to score during matches as well.
“Obviously we need more goals and it is not just for forwards to score goals, it is for all players; the midfielders can score goals, defenders can score goals, something which we looked at before and we will also look at again for the upcoming tournament. The defence play well but we need to score goals in every way,” said Day after completing yesterday's morning practice session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
The inclusion of five forwards may indicate that Day will implement attacking football, however, the fact remains that he wants to stick to the counterattack strategy which worked quite well in the Asian Games.
“If we start attacking too much, then we could concede goals against a better team who can avail mistakes easily, so we have to ensure a solid defence and at the same time, score goals by taking the chances we create,” explained Day.
Nine players -- Yeasin Khan, Jafar Iqbal, Mohammad Ibrahim, Rahmat Mia, Sabuz, Javed, Jibon, Rabiul Islam and Matin -- were included in the 23-member squad while, Nasir Chowdhury, Faisal Mahmud, Sohel Rana, Rony and the injured Saad Uddin, all of whom were a part of SAFF championship squad, were excluded.
Bangladesh will begin their Bangabandhu Gold Cup campaign by taking on Laos on October 1.
The Bangladesh team will fly out for Sylhet this afternoon while Laos is scheduled to land in the country today. Palestine, Philippines and Tajikistan are set to reach here tomorrow while Nepal will arrive on September 30.
Comments