Booters warming up for camp
Footballers of the Bangladesh national team are slowly shrugging off the rust and warming up for individual training after the Asian Football Confederation recently announced World Cup qualifying fixtures in October and November.
The men in red and green are likely to resume their qualifying campaign against Afghanistan on October 8 at home before travelling to Qatar for an away match on October 13. Head coach Jamie Day asked every players to be mentally prepared for the camp following nearly three months at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"As a professional footballer, I can't think of anything other than football, but to be honest, the current situation has forced everyone to think of himself, family members, relatives and others. All the national players now need to focus on physical and mental fitness and not think too much of the current situation, which will change one day," national team winger Saad Uddin told The Daily Star, adding that he has been training individually at home in Sylhet since the start of the shutdown.
Saad also believes the next two months are crucial. "Next two months are important for every player. If the players follow the programme given by Jamie Day, then the six-week training camp is good enough for recovery. But if we don't follow that schedule, it may become tough.".
The Abahani player informed that the coach sent schedules for running, power-gym, etc and that the coach also advised them about their food and how much they should consume per day.
"The coach has been in touch with all the players for the last two to three months through Whatsapp group and providing us guidelines for training, food and other things. As we all are out of football at the moment, it is a big challenge for everyone to stay fit. If we can follow Jamie's programme, we can maintain 60 to 70 per cent fitness," national goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana told The Daily Star from Manikganj.
"After the announcement, the coach knocked everyone personally and wanted to know our condition. As he is pushing us regularly, we are doing training as much as possible, so that we can at least adjust ourselves in the training camp and avoid extra training to get fit," said Rana, who has been training at Manikganj District Stadium.
Both Saad and Rana want to play three to four practice matches before hosting Afghanistan because they need to recover mental strength which was affected due to the pandemic with no football activities.
"Mental strength is an important factor for the players before competitive matches. We must build confidence which can done through practice matches," said Rana.
Saad said, "We must play three to four practice matches because we are out of matches for a long period. Besides, practice matches can also help the coach pick up the right combination."
Comments