De Kruif vows to fight it out
Dhaka, August 24: Bangladesh head coach Lodewijk de Kruif vowed to fight till the end in the SAFF Championship and said his players have worked hard to win the title in the official press conference of the team on Saturday.
The Dutch coach was beaming with confidence to put a good show. “In the last nine weeks the players have put their best , we have a strong team after a tough selection process, I took a little long to form the squad but I like to keep it it big as long as possible and we are ready to put a good show” said de Kruif.
About the group de Kruif put a realistic thought. “India are the favourites of the group, Nepal will enjoy the home advantage and Bangladesh and Pakistan are outsiders, however it does not mean that we will not focusing upon winning the title, we are professionals and we have worked hard to attain our target” said De Kruif.
“We do our best because we have very talented players, talented team. We want to fight for the country. We don’t want to disappoint anyone so we will give everything we can.
I’m not going to talk about final place or semifinal or whatever. Of course we go there to win our games as we are sportsmen” added the Dutch man.
Bangladesh team will fly to Nepal on Sunday with 21 members.
Bangladesh squad- Goalkeepers- Mamun Khan, Shahidul Alam Sohel, Biplob Bhattacharjee. Defender-Nasiruddin Chowdhury, Waly Faisal, Md. Linkon, Raihan Hasan, Ariful Islam, Atikur Rahman Mishu. Midfeilders- Mamunul Islam, Jamal Bhuiyan, Omar Faruk Babu, Sohel Rana, Zahid Hossain, Mobarak Hossian Bhuiyan, Monaem Raju. Forwards- Zahid Hasan Emily, Shakahwat Hossian Rony, Toklis Ahmed Wahed Ahmed and Mithun Chowdhury.