‘We will target the final’

Bangladesh national football team's full-back Rahmat Mia said that even though the upcoming tri-nation tournament in Nepal will be a platform of preparation for June's World Cup qualifying fixtures, their target will be to play in the final.

The Saif SC player thinks fitness or cohesiveness among the players will not be an issue as the first phase of the league just ended recently, with all the squad members involved.

"Everyone is fit. Since we have very short time at hand, the training will be mostly tactical," Rahmat told reporters at the FARS Hotel yesterday afternoon as 27 out of 31 members of the squad joined the camp.

Goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana, goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico and forward Mohammed Abdullah will join the camp today while skipper Jamal Bhuiyan, who is currently with Kolkata Mohammedan playing in the I league, will join the team in Nepal.

The tournament starts on March 23 with Bangladesh, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan Olympic team slated to play each other once before the top two teams play in the final on March 29.

While admitting that the hosts are a formidable opponent, Rahmat said they are not afraid of anyone.

"We will definitely go with the target of playing in the final," the 21-year-old said. "There is nothing to be afraid of, instead good oppositions always give you more incentive to perform well."

With the World Cup qualifiers deferred to June, Rahmat feels that this tournament will be a good preparation for them.

"Since we haven't had matches of the national team for some time, these matches will be helpful. This will be a good preparation for us ahead of the World Cup qualifiers," Rahmat said.

On-field training will start tomorrow and the team will leave for Nepal on March 18 after receiving Covid-negative certificates.