Modest target for boys

Bangladesh under-15 football team will leave for Nepal today to take part in the SAFF U-15 Championship with a modest target of reaching the semifinals on the back of only 10 weeks of preparation.

Bangladesh, who emerged champions in the 2015 edition at home but finished third in the following edition in Nepal last year, have been pitted against the hosts and Maldives in Group A this time around. Group B features two-time champions India as well as Bhutan and Pakistan.

Bangladesh have qualified for the semifinals in all four previous editions, but managed to move into the final on only one occasion, which was at home in the third edition in Sylhet. This time they have set themselves a rather easy target of reaching the semifinals.

Though girls' teams at age-group can confidently say that their only target is winning the title when taking part in regional tournaments, boys' teams cannot afford to do so simply because of their short-period training, unlike the round-the-year training provided to the girls.

“Having selected players from an open trial, we started the training camp in Nilphamari with 35 players from August 10. The boys have played a few practice matches among themselves. We have made them understand how important this tournament is for us and they are aware of their duty. We want to beat Maldives in our first match to ensure the semifinals and then we can think further,” head coach Mostafa Anwar Parvez said at a press conference at the BFF House yesterday.

In the last edition, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka 4-0 and Bhutan 3-0 in group stages before losing 4-2 against Nepal in the semifinals.

Teams like India, Nepal and Bhutan feature academy players in their squads in age-group tournaments, but Bangladesh still bank on open trials to form squads as there are no national academies or age-group national tournaments here.

“We have done everything that we needed to do for this team. Our technical director Paul Smalley went there [Nilphamari] four times to observe training. The BFF is thinking about keeping this group of boys together even after the completion of the SAFF championship,” informed BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, who however believes there is no need to organsie age-group tournaments to form national age-group teams.

Even though the 32-member squad features four officials and five coaches, there is no room for a physio. The head coach believes he can play the role of a physio with his knowledge of sports science.