Jamal confident of SA Games success

Bangladesh national football team’s captain Jamal Bhuiyan believes the team will acclimatise with the condition and weather in Nepal within the three days they will get ahead of the football event of the South Asian Games, which is scheduled for December 1 to 10.

Jamal is in the under-23 squad as one of the three senior players and is expected to lead the Bangladesh team, who were pitted alongside Nepal and Bhutan in Group A.

In the last edition of the SA Games in India three years ago, Bangladesh won the bronze medal.

“The current team is different from the previous ones because the boys are more capable than the previous players and have good speed and fitness. So I hope the boys will adjust to the weather and condition of Nepal within three days,” said Jamal.

“Our target is to win the final and this team is similar to the national team even though some three to four senior players are out of the squad. I think our squad is very good because we have been playing together for a long time. We beat Qatar to advance to the second round of Asian Games which will inspire us to do well in the SA Games,” said Jamal, who returned from Denmark on Monday.        

The football team is scheduled to leave for Nepal today where they will be joined by coach Jamie Day, who will fly from England today.

“We will aim for a medal so we will still try for that but it will be tough. If we finish inside top three, I will be pleased,” Day said though e-mail correspondence.  “The first match [against Nepal] is very important because if we win or draw, we will have the best chance of avoiding India in semifinals.”