‘Focus not on winning but getting football back in Bangladesh’

The Daily Star  October 29, 2020
Star Online Report

Bangladesh national football team are scheduled to play two international friendlies against Nepal on November 13 and 17 following a long coronavirus-induced break. And head coach Jamie Day thought that winning these fixtures is secondary as the main focus will be on getting football back in Bangladesh.

“We want to get football back to Bangladesh. I think that’s the aim of it [the two friendlies against Nepal],” said Day after arriving in the country from the UK today.

Along with the head coach Day, two other foreign coaching staff — Goalkeeping coach Les Cleevely and assistant coach Stuart Watkiss — and skipper Jamal Bhuiyan arrived in the country today. All of them have already undergone mandatory coronavirus tests and will be joining the ongoing national camp after three days, subject to receiving negative coronavirus reports.

Day also hoped that these two fixtures would lay the foundation for more games in the coming year.

“I think for us, it’s good to get the boys back training after such a long period of time. I think my focus is not on winning the games. However, we obviously want to win but that won’t be the main focus. It is about getting the boys playing; it is about getting football back in Bangladesh and that these games are going to be the start of the foundation to build on for the next year,” concluded Day.