The national football team returned to the country on Friday afternoon after a 10-day conditioning camp in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Jamal Bhuiyara came to Dhaka from Medina via Riyadh. After that, the football team left for Sylhet from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Two FIFA friendly matches will be played there on March 25 and 28 against the African country Seychelles.
Bangladesh football team manager Iqbal Hossain told Jago News, ‘We arrived in Dhaka from Saudi at 4:30 pm on Friday afternoon. After that, I left for Sylhet around 8:30 pm. The two footballers who were ultimately unable to travel to Saudi Arabia due to passport issues joined the team at the airport. Practice started in Sylhet on Saturday with 27 footballers.
Coach Javier Cabrera conducted the team’s first practice in Sylhet on Saturday. In the afternoon practice took place at Sylhet BKSP ground. There will be a second day of practice at the same time on Sunday.
Besides the 10-day preparation, Jamal Bhuiyara also played two matches in Madinah. One opponent was the top club Ohud from Medina and the other was the African country of Malawi. Bangladesh drew both matches 1-1. Bangladesh footballers are very happy with the draw against Malawi which is ranked 124th. The footballers of the Bangladesh team feel that a preparatory match against another African country before the series against the African country will be very useful.
The three-nation series was supposed to be held in Sylhet. The other team was Brunei Darussalam. However, Bangladesh will now play two matches against Seychelles as Brunei has expressed its inability to come at the last moment.
Talking about Medina’s preparations, senior player Tapu Burman said, ‘Yesterday we returned home from Saudi Arabia. It was a long journey. We rested in the morning and came to the field in the afternoon to practice. All of us players are healthy and well. The exercise we have done in Saudi has been very positive. We are looking forward to playing matches against Seychelles on 25th and 28th March. These two matches are very important for us. In Saudi we also played two matches in addition to practice. Both matches were drawn. Hopefully, we can use the way we were a team there in Sylhet.’
RI/IHS/
You can also write on the popular online news portal jagonews24.com. Writing topics feature, travel, lifestyle, career, IT, agriculture and nature. Submit your essay today [email protected] at the address
