Booters move to BKSP

A total of 32 players out of the 44-member preliminary squad reported to national team manager Satyajit Das Rupu and assistant coach Mahbub Hossain Roxy yesterday as the national football team began their preparations for the Asian Games and the South Asian Football Championship (SAFF) later in the year.

Seven players of the squad are currently in London to play a couple of exhibition matches as a part of an unauthorised team while two players will join the camp directly at the BSKP today. Two others remained absent due to exams while one player did not join the camp due to injury.

While the Asian Games in August will be a platform for young players to test their skills, the SAFF Championship at home in September is what the team will be looking to use as a platform for redemption, after having been eliminated from the group stages in the last three editions.

Veteran defender Mamun Miah said they wanted to win the SAFF title after a gap of 15 years. “We failed to perform well in the last three editions. As the next edition will be held on home soil, we want to perform well and we will play only to win the title,” he said after reporting at the BFF House yesterday.

Young forward Mahbubur Rahman Sufil echoed a similar sentiment.

“Our performance was not good in the last few years but this time we are committed to do well and we want to forget past dissatisfactions by winning the title this time,” he said.

Assistant coach Roxy will look after the camp along with two other local coaches before the recently-signed British coach Jamie Day takes charge in the second week of June.