Fahamedul Islam, a Bangladesh origin midfielder from Italian fourth-tier outfit Olbia Calcio FC, was recently called in the preliminary squad of Bangladesh national football team. He, too, arrived to Taif City, Saudi Arabia, to participate in a training program with the other lads last week. Unfortunately, he did not make it till the conclusion.
The energetic left-back cum midfielder had been doing well in the training sessions. But he was not with the boys when the team returned to Dhaka on Tuesday finishing the training programme. It was learned that Fahamedul Islam left for Italy when the Bangladesh team boarded the flight to Dhaka.
Javier Fernandez, the head coach of Bangladesh, stated that they had to slash Fahamedul. He said, "Fahamedul needs more time to adapt to the senior team setup. He has gone back to Italy, but again, he has done a good job."
He added, 'It was good for us to have him. It has been good for him also to meet the players and the team. But for now, there are other players that are more ready. He is very young, so he needs a bit more time to adapt."
Failing to meet head coach's expectations, Fahamedul could not make it to the final squad. However, learning the news, the local football fans had an outburst.
The fans felt that Fahamedul might be a victim of the 'syndicate of local footballers'. It is said that a syndicate of a few footballers and officials have control over some factors including the player selection process and others. Sometimes, the national team coaches were helpless in decision making.
The fans, on Tuesday, demonstrated against the decision of slashing Fahamedul from the squad. They were chanting loudly, "We are Fahamedul!", "We want Fahamedul back in the team", "Let Fahamedul play", "Stop the syndicate, save Bangladesh football."
The fans believed that players like Riasat were not given the chance to show their capability before. That time, Riasat accused that the team management and the Federation didn't help him while some footballers led by a then star booter was acting against him.
The syndicate always tried to disrupt the best foreign footballers, causing them to struggle and eventually return. Fans are now asking that the unethical system be stopped.
