Lodewijk trims his squad further
Dhaka, July 16: National head coach Lodewijk de Kruif has almost finalised his squad for the Saff Championship after cutting four booters from the national camp to reduce the squad to 26 on Monday.
Young midfielders Yusuf Sifat and Nahidul Islam, wing back Arup Baidya and defender Topu Barman were the players excluded by de Kruif, who explained that there were better players to play in those positions at the moment. The coach asked the excluded to players to work hard for the future, who remain on the stand-by list and will be available if needed.
De Kruif started his camp with 35 footballers, including three expatriates on July 1. Denmark based Jamal Bhuiyan looks set to get a slot in the squad while Australia based Anando Rahman left the camp citing problems in adapting to the conditions. The third expatriate, US based Farhan Khan, attended the camp for three days before leaving due to academic commitments .Arman Aziz, Shahedul Alam and Uttam Kumar Banik were excluded earlier.
Defender Rezaul Karim Reza, who had been sidelined with a foot injury for the last five months, impressed de Kruif while playing against the national team in a practice match and is being considered by the coach.
The team is expected to fly to Thailand at the end of the month for a ten day conditioning camp where they will play two practice matches.