After a 10-day long training and conditioning camp in Thailand capital Bangkok, Bangladesh National Team are now all set to fly for Laos to play the first leg of the two-match tier against the hosts there in the pre-qualifying round of Qatar World Cup 2020.
Team Bangladesh on Sunday took part in the last practice session at SP Football Ground in the Thai capital.
As part of their preparations ahead of the World Cup pre qualifiers, the Bengal boys had reached in Thailand on May 24 to play two friendly matches against two local clubs there.
The national team played out the first match 1-1 draw with Air Force United FC on May 28 and beat BG Pathum FC 3-0 on June 1 (yesterday).
Apart from playing the matches and practicing different aspects of football skills, the Jamie Day’s pupils successfully adapted with the Thai condition.
Most importantly, the practice matches in Thailand helped Bangladesh forwards to come out from the goal drought as they scored four goals in two matches.
“The Thailand camp helped us to understand how the condition is going to be in Laos. It is known that the weather in Thailand and Laos is almost the same. The practice matches helped our strikers to back to the track to score goals,” said Bangladesh defender Nasir.
Assistant coach Masud Kaisar said the boys needed this camp to team up themselves as they did not play any match as a team recently though they played in national level leagues.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s foreign recruit assistant coach Paul Stuart Watkiss said the training camp in Thailand was important in terms of checking on the players’ fitness.
“They all (the players) played equal amount of football… We’re going to Laos tomorrow… full of confidence. Believing, if we play well, we’re very capable of getting the result,” said Watkiss.
The Red and Greens will leave Bangkok for Laos capital Vientiane Monday (tomorrow) to play their first World Cup pre-qualifier against Laos on June 6.
The second pre-qualifier between Bangladesh and Laos will be held at Bangabandhu National Stadium on June 11.
