Ibrahim exposes loopholes in Covid protocol as Qatar camp cancelled

Bangladesh national football team's preparations for next month's World Cup Qualifiers were thrown into disarray after a footballer in the camp tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday night and the scheduled departure for Qatar was pushed back to May 30.

While the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) failed to convince its Qatari counterpart about relaxing the stringent Covid protocols in the gulf state, the loopholes of the protocol at the Dhaka camp have put the whole squad in danger.

National team's winger Mohammad Ibrahim tested positive on Tuesday night, the test result coming after he had been involved with the squad for two sessions on two consecutive days. Since then the winger has been isolated in his hotel room, according to the BFF, while his roommate Sohel Rana trained with the coaching staff separately after returning negative results.

The atmosphere around the team is quite normal as if there is not much that could be done to avoid getting infected while getting rid of the virus is only a matter of time.

Ibrahim's teammate Mohammad Abdullah, while talking to reporters after a training session yesterday, brushed aside any panic by saying, "We are optimistic. When he (Ibrahim) turns negative, he will join again. In fact, anyone can get infected and this has become usual in the last one year."              

BFF's general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, while talking to The Daily Star, conceded that they could have deferred the start of the training camp until getting the test results to avoid a messy situation, but said they did it on the insistence of the coaching staff.

"I personally feel we could have waited for one more day [to get the results before starting the training]. But since the players were allowed to spend Eid vacation with their families and since we have important assignment ahead, the coaching staff thought that if we start training on May 17 without wasting time, we could get one more day's practice," the BFF spokesman said.

The team's assistant coach Stuart Watkiss, who recovered from Covid recently before coming to Bangladesh and ended a mandatory quarantine period before joining training yesterday, claimed that the players were maintaining safety measures. "There doesn't seem to be an issue with the other players. They seem okay, they seem relaxed. They're doing the right thing in terms of wearing masks, keeping social distance and keeping in air-bubble."

However, the reality is the 'air-bubble' maintained at the football team's camp is a far cry from the ones we witness for international teams, with random people outside the so-called bubble including hotel staff and people at the ground having close encounters with the players and coaching staff.

The fact that the players were allowed to go and spend time with the family during the Eid break just before the start of training, a decision triggered by Bashundhara Kings' refusal to release their players early, only jeopardised the whole process. Had all the players been at the camp from May 10 and 11 as was initially planned and had themselves tested, this unwanted situation might have been avoided.

The BFF officials, however, maintain that they are doing their best to ensure safety of the players as they are 'getting tested periodically'.

While BFF is taking a relaxed approach in regards to the Covid situation, Qatar Football Association has been very stringent in maintaining its own Covid protocol. According to BFF, Qatar government has declined to allow gym, swimming and dining facilities to the players while allowing only the use of practice venues for the team before June 1. This decision has prompted the BFF to shelve its initial plan of flying to Doha this week and play two practice matches there.

The BFF has now decided that the team will leave on May 30 and following Covid tests, will start training from the following day, with the team's first match against Afghanistan scheduled for June 3.

The BFF is also planning to arrange one or two practice matches against local clubs in Dhaka, although how that plan will work while maintaining the 'air-bubble' remains a big question.