Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin mentioned that the board plans to arrange four weeks of preparation including practice matches against ‘superior teams’ ahead of the booters’ upcoming World Cup Qualifiers at home against India, Oman and Afghanistan.
After a far from an ideal preparation — just five weeks of training and four warm-up matches — Bangladesh went to play Asian champions Qatar at their home and suffered a thumping 5-0 defeat on Friday.
“My plan is to arrange for at least four weeks of preparation ahead of each of the three upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches. Of those four weeks, two weeks will be for physical training while the other two will be for match practice. I intend to play [practice] matches against superior teams like Malaysia and Thailand. Only then it will help us in preparing better for teams like India and Afghanistan,” said Salahuddin, who for the first time talked to the media today since recovering from coronavirus.
The BFF president also mentioned that the board will be trying to arrange those warm-up matches in Bangladesh.
Although the dates for Bangladesh’s forthcoming World Cup Qualifying fixtures have yet not been officially confirmed, it is expected that the matches will be played sometime between March to June next year.
“We are not like any European team. We need more time to prepare and I will sit with the clubs and discuss it. The clubs would need to release players four weeks early. And only if the clubs are willing to sacrifice and we are ready to spend money in arranging practice matches and extended training period, then I hope that Bangladesh will play better in the upcoming qualifiers,” concluded Salahuddin.
