Hamza Choudhury joined the Bangladesh squad in San Marino on Tuesday night, two days before the national team’s international match against the European nation on 5 June.
Bangladesh reached San Marino on Monday after the Eid break. Shamit Shome joined his team-mates on arrival, while Zayyan Ahmed linked up with the squad early the following morning and trained later that day. Hamza became the latest player to arrive as Bangladesh completed their group ahead of the fixture.
The players carried out a recovery session after reaching San Marino following a journey of around 24 hours. They returned to full training on Tuesday.
Team manager Amer Khan reported a sharp change in conditions across the first two days of the camp.
“Yesterday we trained in cool weather. Today it is extremely hot, just like Bangladesh. Two completely different days.”
Bangladesh trained from 6pm local time, 10pm in Bangladesh, with the session lasting around 90 minutes. The team will face San Marino at 11pm Bangladesh time on 5 June.
Head coach Thomas Dooley highlighted the long journey from Dhaka and the challenge of adapting to European conditions.
“We flew six hours to Africa, waited there for six hours and then took a flight to Italy. After arriving in Italy, we travelled for several more hours before reaching San Marino. The players are eager to play against a European team on their own soil.”
Dooley also warned against underestimating the hosts.
“They are the lowest-ranked team, but they play against teams like Italy, Germany and Spain. It is a very difficult match for us.”
San Marino sit at the bottom of the FIFA rankings, and Bangladesh enter the match against a team that rarely wins international fixtures. Bangladesh will expect to take control of the game and secure a result despite Dooley’s caution.
Fahamedul Islam, who lives in Italy, believes his experience of the local environment can help the squad.
“It is a familiar environment for me. I will try to share my experience with the team. We are all excited to play in Europe and we want to win.”
San Marino lies within Italy and shares many of the same cultural and climatic characteristics, factors that Fahamedul already knows well.
