Bangladesh’s Under-20 side have cancelled their Thailand tour despite finally securing visas, leaving them without the overseas friendlies planned ahead of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers in Uzbekistan.
The Bangladesh Football Federation had spent several days working to secure visas for the players and staff. The visas finally arrived on Thursday, but by then the uncertainty had already damaged the planned schedule.
Bangladesh had arranged matches against the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia in Thailand. The UAE fixture on August 18 already fell through because the Bangladesh delegation had not received visas in time.
Indonesia had also planned to face Bangladesh on August 25. However, uncertainty over Bangladesh’s travel arrangements prompted the Indonesians to look for another opponent. By the time the visas arrived, Bangladesh could no longer revive the fixture.
The cancellation leaves coach Gerard Jones with limited international preparation before the tournament. Bangladesh will now play two practice matches in Dhaka against Fortis and Police, who remain in training.
The team had also considered a training camp in Bahrain before Thailand. The management dropped that plan because of the regional war situation.
Bangladesh have spent the past few weeks preparing at the Shamsul Huda Academy in Jashore. They moved to Dhaka four days ago and have trained at the Kamalapur Stadium. Jones has selected a 23-man squad, including five overseas-based players.
Bangladesh will open their Asian Cup qualifying campaign against hosts Uzbekistan on August 31. They will then face Syria on September 3 and India on September 6 in Group B.
The group winner will qualify automatically. Bangladesh can also reach the finals as one of the seven best runners-up from the eight qualifying groups.
