Nepal’s national football team arrived in Dhaka this afternoon to play a friendly match against Bangladesh, scheduled for the day after tomorrow. This game serves as preparation for Bangladesh’s highly anticipated Asian Cup qualifier against India on November 18 — their last home match of the campaign.
Nepal Arrives Amid Domestic Turmoil
Despite recent protests by Nepalese footballers demanding the start of a domestic league, the team has honored its commitment to play the friendly match. The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) confirmed that all arrangements for the fixture have been finalized.
Hamza’s Arrival Lifts Team Spirit
Bangladesh began their training camp on October 30, and practice sessions have been ongoing since then. Today’s session had an extra spark with Hamza Chowdhury joining the squad. His presence has notably boosted morale among the players.
Forward Rakib Hossain shared his excitement, saying:
“𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒂𝒎𝒛𝒂 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒆. 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.”
Hamza, who plays for Leicester City in the English Premier League, has blended seamlessly with his Bangladeshi teammates. Besides training, he has been active as an ambassador for several national brands — something Rakib views as a positive influence on local football.
“𝑯𝒂𝒎𝒛𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑯𝒆’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍,” 𝑹𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒃 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
Excitement Builds for India Match
Tickets for the Bangladesh vs India clash sold out in just six minutes, highlighting the immense enthusiasm among fans. Despite the massive crowd expectations, Rakib insists the team feels motivated rather than pressured.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑹𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒃.
Cabrera Focused on Preparation
Bangladesh has played four matches in the Asian Cup qualifiers so far, with Rakib scoring in two of them. His goal against Hong Kong earned the team a crucial point, although his celebration stirred some debate. Addressing the issue, Rakib clarified:
“𝑰𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.”
Head coach Javier Cabrera views the friendly against Nepal as a vital preparation step before facing India. He confirmed that he plans to rotate players to ensure everyone gets match time.
“𝑾𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉. 𝑾𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 17 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 — 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒙 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂,” 𝑪𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅.
The friendly match against Nepal promises to be an important test for Bangladesh, both tactically and in terms of team spirit, as they gear up for one of their most anticipated fixtures of the year.
Also Read: Bad News Again for Yamal as Barcelona-Spain Rivalry Intensifies
