‘Relaxed’ booters take on Kyrgyzstan U-23s

The Bangladesh national football team will perhaps start an international tournament without the pressure of winning it for the first time when they take on Kyrgyzstan U-23 team in the opening match of the Three Nations Cup at the Dasharath Rangasala in Kathmandu today.

The match will get underway at 5: 45pm Bangladesh time and will be telecast live on T Sports.

Winning trophies or at least making it to the final have always been the talking points whenever the men in red and green have taken part in regional or invitational tournaments, but this time around coach Jamie Day has removed all the pressure from the shoulders of his charges by terming the tournament as a platform for youngsters to prove their worth ahead of June's World Cup Qualifiers.

While not thinking about the outcome, the 41-year-old coach will definitely hope that his players execute his plans properly, leading to positive results.

The coach will not have everything in place due to the absence of experienced campaigners such as Tapu Barman, Yeasin Khan, Nabib Newaj Jibon and Rahmat Mia. Captain Jamal Bhuiyan, who reached Nepal yesterday, will not be available for the first match either. 

Day will, however, welcome the return of midfielder Masuk Mia Jonny and Matain Mia along with in-form midfielder Mohammad Abdullah. In any case, he would like to see the new ones fill in those big shoes and grab the opportunities.

While the coach is encouraging his players to enjoy the game without thinking about the title, the players are seemingly motivated to do something special.

"They have all trained very well, so hopefully they can take that into the matches," Day told The Daily Star from Nepal. "My message to the players is to enjoy the game and play relaxed."

The English coach also explained his philosophy of relaxed display, saying: "Everyone will play over two matches. My focus is on seeing all the players play."

Midfielder Sohel Rana, though, believes the players will not take to the field just to enjoy the matches, instead they are thinking of leaving the pitch with victories.

"True that we don't have any pressure from any quarters to win the tournament but we will definitely want to win all the matches because as players we want to do well," Sohel told The Daily Star.

The charges of Day have gone through light training, mostly involving technical aspects as the players had a hectic domestic schedule where they even played two matches in a week.

The Abahani midfielder also believes that if they can implement coach's plan properly, they can win every match. He also sees the possibility of young players stepping up to secure a place for the final squad of World Cup Qualifiers.

Bangladesh senior national side have never beaten their Kyrgyzstan counterparts in four meetings so far. During the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, Bangladesh suffered a 3-1 defeat at home and a 2-0 defeat away.