A Bahraini on reconnaissance mission in Sylhet

Bangladesh are playing against Mongolia in Sylhet today, but there is a member of the coaching staff of Bahrain national team here. Ali Ahmed, a young member of Bahrain's coaching staff, has flown to Sylhet exclusively to watch this match and take home his ideas about the Bangladesh team, whom they will play in Asian Cup Qualifiers in June.

It is not an uncommon scenario for top teams, but coming from Bangladesh, it is hard to imagine the kind of vision these teams possess and the investments they make.

Bahrain are not the strongest team in Asia; at 89th position in FIFA ranking, they just missed out on qualifying for the last round of World Cup qualifiers after finishing close behind Iran and Iraq. It was big blow to their hopes, so they are putting all hands on deck for the Asian Cup Qualifiers.

Ahmed, who will report back to the team about the Bangladesh team, showed respect to each of the Asian Cup Qualifiers opponents – Turkmenistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh – during a talk with The Daily Star at the press box of the Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday.

"Turkmenistan are a strong side. Malaysia are a strong side too, may be not reflected on their ranking. Bangladesh are an improving team. So we take every opposition seriously," the former footballer said.

It is not the standard practice to allow a technical analyst from a third country to observe a match of an upcoming opposition, there wasn't much Bangladesh Football Federation officials could do once the Bahraini produced a recommendation letter from his federation to the BFF, especially given that the current chief Asian Football Confederation is a former president of Bahrain Football Association.

As he was reluctantly allowed at the press box, Ahmed was quite upright about his mission. "I've been here for two days and I haven't been to the practice sessions because I respect their privacy," Ahmed said. "Here I would watch the match to have an idea about the Bangladesh team. The video footage will be available anyway, so I'm just here to have a first-hand impression."

Ahmed said that he was waiting for the match to have a better idea about Bangladesh football, but he was already impressed with the country.

"I have really liked this country. People are so friendly. It's not storage because we know many Bangladeshis in Bahrain and the relation between the two countries is very good. The atmosphere is casual and there is a freshness about here which you don't find in many other places," the Bahraini official exclaimed.