Booters welcome Nepal friendlies
The national footballers are eagerly waiting to come back to the ground through friendlies against Nepal -- slated for November 13 and 17 in Dhaka -- despite questions remaining about their preparedness to take the task following a long coronavirus-induced break.
Footballers have been training at home as per instructions from head coach Jamie Day till early August following the country's sports activities were suspended since mid-March and deferment of all international engagements as a result of pandemic. The booters even started outdoor training at Gazipur from early August for the World Cup Qualifying fixtures in October and November but FIFA/AFC on August 12 again deferred the matches to another year, leaving the national players, except the booters of Bashundhara Kings, sitting idle going back one month.
In such circumstances, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has invited Nepal to play two international friendlies on the November FIFA Window.
Although players have not yet been officially informed about the friendlies by the BFF or coach Day, the players are well aware of the friendlies due to media reports. And the booters appeared to be excited to come back to action despite the lack of preparation.
"We have not been informed about the friendlies yet but Jamie always asks us to prepare yourself as the training camp gets started anytime. Since the lockdown, Jamie has been in touch challenging national players and recommended us to check out working out schedules," said midfielder Sohel Rana.
"We have been training individually but you will find a big difference between individual training and team training. It's a fact that we need to gain [match] fitness whenever you can within a three-week period to play these matches because we don't possess alternatives." The Abahani midfielder is however ecstatic with a hope that they will go back to the action in November after an extended eight-month gap.
"Arranging such international matches is needed because all of us are out of action for an extended period. Our football will go back to the ground through both of these international friendlies and the footballers can not only get a taste of football after an extended gap but also the spectators and other stakeholders may also get the taste of football," said Sohel.
Over fifty percent of the national players including Sohel is perhaps out of training since mid-August. However, twelve national players have been in the club training for Bashundhara Kings till October 15. The club management also asked the players to become listed on the camp on October 30 before resuming training from November 1.
"The players of Bashundhara Kings won't face much problem to regain their fitness because they have been around in training going back one-and-a-half months but the players outside Bashundhara may face difficulties to get exercise within a brief period of time," said right-back Bishwanath Ghosh.
"We really want to return to the bottom immediately and we are obviously pleased with such an initiative which will also give us a platform to get prepared for December's domestic competition," said Ghosh.
