Bangladesh U-20 Football team leaves for Bahrain on Wednesday

A 31-member Bangladesh U-20 Football team will leave the capital for Bahrain Wednesday (Sept 7) morning in a tough mission of competing the five-nation AFC Asian Cup U-20 Championship Qualifiers beginning there on September 10.

BFF member Bijon Barun will accompany the squad as team leader, Rashed Ahmed Pappu as the head coach and Tanvir Hossain as the captain of the Bangladesh team comprising 23 booters and eight officials.

Bangladesh, which was placed in strong Group B of the Asian qualifying round with Qatar, hosts Bahrain, Nepal and Bhutan, will play stronger Bahrain on Sept 10, Bhutan on Sept 12, Qatar in Sept 16 and Nepal on Sept 18.  

A total 43 Asian countries, split into 10 groups, will initially compete in the first phase of the meet. Later, ten group champions and five best runners-up teams and hosts Uzbekistan will play in the 16-team final round of the meet in Uzbekistan next year.    

The prospect and possibilities of Bangladesh team in the Asian Cup disclosed at a press conference at the BFF House in Motijheel on Tuesday.

Bangladesh Team leader Bijon Barua, Head Coach Bangladesh Rashed  Ahmed Pappu and captain Tanvir Hossain spoke on the occasion.

Coach Rashed Ahmed Pappu said, “We took preparation for about four weeks for the tournament, our team have no major problems or injury and we are expecting a good results from the ensuing meet.”

Bangladesh captain Tanvir Hossain said, “We played a hopeless football against India in the last SAFF final, our coach worked on it, we are determined to display out best in the meet. “    

UNB/GY