Bangladesh National Football team will fly for Cambodia on Saturday at 1:35 pm to play a FIFA International friendly in Phnom Penh ahead of the eight-nation 14th South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship '2023 in India, reports UNB.
Thirty four member Bangladesh team comprises 23 footballers and 11 officials.
Bangladesh will play a FIFA International Tier -1 Friendly match against Cambodia on June 15 at 7 pm at the Phnom Penh National Stadium and will fly for India directly on June 16 to compete in the SAFF Championship' 2023 scheduled for June 21 to July 5 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
Bangladesh team will stay at Phnom Penh Hotel in the Cambodian capital and will play a practice match against Tiffy Army FC on June 12 at 5 pm at the Army Stadium in Phnom Penh.
At one stage, the scheduled tour of Bangladesh team to Cambodia had become uncertain as the passports of Bangladesh team were in the Indian High Commission in Dhaka till Thursday afternoon for necessary visas.
However, the cloud over the Bangladesh tour to Cambodia was cleared as the Indian High Commission returned the passports of 28 footballers out of 30 with issuing visa Thursday night.
Two players-- Bishwanath Ghosh and Isa Faisal, who did not got visa on Thursday, are expected to get Indian visa on Sunday to join the team later on.
Ahead of the tour, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) conducted a four-day intensive training program with initially selected 30 booters at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital.
In a pre tour press conference on Friday, head coach of Bangladesh team Javier Fernandez Cabreraa announced a 23- member final squad dropping seven booters--Tutul Hossain Badsha, Masuk Mia Zoni, Eleta Kingsley, Shahriar Emon, Rimon Hossain, Sazzad Hossain and Mehedy Hasan Srabon.
.Members of the Bangladesh are: Anisur Rahman, Topu Barman, Bishwanath Ghosh, Tariq Raihan Kazi, Sohel Rana, Rakib Hossain, Sumon Reza, Sheikh Morsalin (Bashundhara Kings),
Sahidul Alam Sohel, Foysal Ahmed Fahim, Rahmat Mia, Sohel Rana, Alamgir Molla, Mohammad Ridoy ( Dhaka Abahani Ltd), Mehedi Hasan (Mohammedan SC),
Jamal Bhuyan, Mohammad Ibrahim (Sheikh Russel KC), Rabiul Hasan, Isa Faysal (Police FC), Mojibor Rahman Jony, Mitul Marma, Rafiqul Islam (Fortis FC) and Aminur Rahman Sojib (Muktijoddha Sangsad KC).
Earlier, Bangladesh have been drawn in Group B of the (SAFF) Championship with top seed and invitee Lebanon, two times champions Maldives and Bhutan while Group A team comprises eight-time champions India, invitee Kuwait, Nepal and Pakistan.
In the SAFF Championship, hosts India will play their arch-rivals Pakistan in one of the two opening day's matches at 7:30 pm local time on June 21 while invitee Kuwait will face Nepal in the other inaugural day's match at 3:30 pm.
Bangladesh, the champions of 2003, will start their campaign taking on favorite and top seed Lebanon on the following day (June 22) at 3:30 pm at the same venue.
Bangladesh, who did not overcame the group stage barrier in the last five editions, will play Maldives on June 25 at 3:30 pm and meet Bhutan on June 28 at 7:30 pm in their remaining group matches
After the round-robin league matches, top two teams from each groups, will play in the semifinals on July 1 while the final billed for July 4
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
