Hamza Choudhury will not come to Dhaka for Bangladesh’s national team camp before the Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore.
The midfielder has recently recovered from injury. So there is little doubt about his chances of playing the match. But he will not join the camp in the capital.
Bangladesh will face Singapore on 31 March in their final match of the Asian Cup qualifiers. The match does not hold much importance. Bangladesh are already out of the race for the main round. Still, head coach Javier Cabrera hopes the team can improve its ranking.
The national team camp will begin on 16 March. Players will train at Bashundhara Kings Arena. The camp will start even as the Eid-ul-Fitr period approaches.
Hamza’s club Leicester City will play their last Championship match before the international break on 21 March. After that game, he will travel to Vietnam and join the Bangladesh squad on 22 March.
The rest of the team will leave for Vietnam on 20 March.
Bangladesh will play a friendly match against Vietnam on 26 March. The team will travel to Singapore the next day for the qualifier.
After a meeting of the national team committee, media committee chairman Amirul Islam Babu said, “Hamza will join us in Vietnam. He will also play against Vietnam. From there he will go to Singapore and after the Singapore match he will return to his country.”
While Hamza will not attend the Dhaka camp, Canada-based midfielder Shamit Shome will arrive in the capital on 15 March. That is one day before the camp begins. Zayyan Ahmed will arrive on 14 March. Fahamedul Islam and Tariq Kazi will come on 16 March.
Babu said, “We will have 30 players in our camp. We will take 23 players to Vietnam. We called the players even before Eid. We are giving priority to football rather than Eid. We will not release any player under any circumstances.”
The Singapore match could also be the final game for Cabrera as Bangladesh head coach. His current contract ends around this time.
Babu said there has been no discussion about extending the deal. “Today we only discussed the Singapore match and the Vietnam match. There was no talk about Cabrera. We have not taken any decision about his future and we will not do so before the Singapore match. After the Singapore match, when the team returns to Dhaka, we will decide.”
Bangladesh are third in Group C with five points from five matches. They lost the first leg against Singapore 2-1 in Dhaka.
