Day wants two closed-door matches

Head coach Jamie Day has asked Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to arrange two closed-door practice matches at home to make up for the losses following the cancellation of a proposed Qatar camp for June's World Cup Qualifiers in Doha.

Day expressed his desire to play two closed-door practice matches on May 24 and 27 before they leave for Doha on May 30, though the initial plan was to play two practice matches in Qatar after leaving here for Doha today.

"Day has wanted to play two practice matches at home and I asked the BFF general secretary to learn from the coach about the type of the opponents he wants to play. If he wants club teams, then we will arrange it. Again, if he wants a foreign-player-studded team, then we will also be trying to assemble it," said national teams' committee member Satyajit Das Rupu.

He also informed that Abahani are also ready to play a match against the national team on May 28 as the players are scheduled to report on May 24 to resume the training following the Eid-ul-fitr vacation.

"Sheikh Russel and Sheikh Jamal are also supposed to resume their training within a couple of days, so the Federation will also communicate with those teams to offer them to play practice matches," said Rupu, adding that Abahani may even resume their training a bit earlier for the sake of the national team.

Asked how the national team would be benefited by playing practice matches against local club sides whereas Afghanistan and India are supposed to face strong opponents in their preparation matches, Day said, "Well, it depends on how fit the local clubs are and if the foreign lads play?"

"India and Afghanistan seem to have better preparation at the moment than we do," admitted Day.

"I don't want the media there reporting on the games for other people [Afghanistan and India] to see," Day said. "Any coach would assess any games the opposition play before that's our job to do. One of our opponents played friendly games last year before our match against the club teams which we got to see and study."