Match, camp both in Tajikistan?
Although still unofficial, the Bangladesh national football team look very likely to play their first match of the Joint Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup against Afghanistan in Tajikistan on September 10, according to a high-placed official of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).
“We have spoken with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which has told us to wait for a couple of days for official confirmation. However, the AFC also told us to start our preparations with Tajikistan as the venue in mind as it is all but likely to be the venue. There needs to just be the final confirmation,” Abu Nayeem Shohag, general secretary of the BFF, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The match was initially expected to be held in Doha as Afghanistan is not eligible to host matches in the war-torn country. However, since Qatar are in the same qualifying group as Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the Qatar as a venue was ruled out as the home venue for Afghanistan.
The BFF spokesman said that the shift in venue would likely alter their plans regarding the team’s training camp.
“If the match was held in Qatar, we would have had our camp there. But if the match is held in Tajikistan, it will be a long journey from Qatar to Tajikistan. There is also the issue of getting used to local conditions. Considering these things, the team might go to Tajikistan a week or so before the game and have its camp there and play a practice match with a local club side as part of their preparation,” Shohag said.
National team head coach Jamie Day, who will arrive here from England on August 19, has already made a 38-member preliminary squad for the first match and will likely trim the squad to 23 players-plus a few reserves some time during the camp in Dhaka, which is likely to begin in the fourth week of August.
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