Bangladesh Under-20 national football team left Dhaka for Vietnam on Wednesday night to take part in the qualifying round of theAFC Championship tournament.
A couple of weeks ago, Maruful Haque returned home as a champion of the SAFF Under-20. After returning from Nepal with the SAFF U-20 trophy, coach Maruf told at the airport, “I want to qualify for the Asian level in the future.” But he could not say at the same tone at the press conference on Wednesday before the team’s departure for Vietnam, as he said, “I said in a strong voice at the press conference here on August 16 that I am going to be a champion. But today I can't say in that voice at this moment that we will qualify. There are some reasons behind this.”
Bangladesh won four titles in the South Asian football Federation (SAFF) tournament. After the women's national team, Women's U-19 team, Women's U-16 team, the last was men’s U-20 team won the title of the SAFF.
Meanwhile, Under-17 team reached Thimphu safely on Wednesday and also had apractce session. Inspired by the Under-20 team’s triumph the title, the U-17 youth team also left Dhaka for Bhutan on Wednesday morning with their eyes on the championship.
The coach of this team is Saiful Bari Titu, the technical director of BFF. Coach and captain of the team detailed all about the team’s preparation and expectations with the tournament in the press conference on Wednesday at the BFF Bhaban.
Bangladesh will start their mission tomorrow 20 with taking on India. The team in Red and Green lost to India in the final last year.
Group 'A' includes Bangladesh and India along with Maldives. Group 'B' hosts Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The top two teams from each group will qualify in the semi-finals. Both semi-final matches will take place on September 28, while the final is scheduled for September 30.
Coach Saiful Bari Titu said, "Recently, our Under-20 team achieved success in Nepal in the SAFF competition. So we are alos optimistic to be the champions.”
Captain Nazmul Huda Faisal said, "Our seniors won the SAFF Under-20 football trophy in Nepal, that is a great inspiration for us. We will also try our best. Our first goal is to play the final. Then we will think about the championship.”
