Tapu returns to national team
Centre-back Tapu Barman returned to the national team after 10 months as head coach Jamie Day kept the trustworthy defender in his 23-member final squad for six-nation Bangabandhu Gold Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Dhaka from January 15 to 25.
Day also recalled defender Sushanta Tripura of Bashundhara Kings while calling up Manik Hossain Mollah of Chattogram Abahani to the squad for the first time. The English coach, however, dropped forward Tawhidul Alam Sabuz, right-back Yeasin Arafat and injured midfielder Biplu Ahmed from the squad which played against Oman in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Tapu sustained knee injury during a practice session with Abahani in March last year and underwent a surgery the following month. He returned to action with his new club Bashundhara Kings in the Federation Cup where he played in the quarterfinals as a substitute and was in the starting eleven of both the semifinal and the final.
Tapu’s last outing for Bangladesh was against Cambodia in March last year, since which he missed all matches for the national team and former club Abahani.
“Before sustaining the injury, Tapu was excellent and best defender in terms of performance. I think he has big a influence in this group. So we are delighted he is back and his inclusion will increase the competition in defence. He is now fit and got three matches of Federation Cup and performed well. I think he will be an important player in the upcoming competition,” Bangladesh team’s assistant coach Stuart Watkiss told reporters during the disclosure of the 23-member squad at the BFF house yesterday.
Tapu was happy with the comeback. “I promised to come back within seven months and I’m really happy to get the call from the national team,” Tapu said. “I’m confident of securing my place in the starting eleven if I get only three to four days of training under the coach.”
Watkiss was also optimistic about midfielder Manik Hossain Mollah.
“His (Manik) inclusion gives balance to his position as we wanted an alternate for each position. We feel Manik’s performance is good enough and he deserved a place in the squad,” said Watkiss, who was also hopeful of getting the team into the knockout stages of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.
“We are always optimistic, but we have to be realistic too. In our group, Palestine have good FIFA ranking and they are a good team both technically and tactically, but we still believe of gaining something (against them). If we want to qualify for the semifinals, we have to beat Sri Lanka which will be the key match. Playing in Bangladesh, we believe we can beat Sri Lanka,” Watkiss said in absence of head coach Day, who is scheduled to join the squad on Wednesday after flying back from London.
Except for nine Bashundhara Kings players, all the players have been asked to report to team manager tonight as training will get underway on Wednesday. The Bashundhara Kings players will start training the following day, informed manager Satyajit Das Rupu.
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