Cabrera gauging Afghanistan with an eye on Maldives

Bangladesh national football team's head coach Javier Cabrera said his main objective in the two FIFA Friendly matches against Afghanistan next month would be to carry the momentum from a satisfactory SAFF Championship campaign, with an aim for a positive result against Maldives in October's World Cup Pre-qualifiers.

Bangladesh will host Afghanistan for the two FIFA Friendlies on September 4 and 7 at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka, with 32 players called up for reporting today. The team will stay at the Regency Hotel and will start training from the following day, with Afghanistan slated to arrive on August 6 and follow the same routine as their Bangladeshi counterparts.

These will be the first international matches since Cabrera's charges reached the semifinals of the SAFF Championship in India in June-July this year.

"Our main objective is to prepare for Maldives. We are playing at home and we want to win, we will go for the win for sure," the Spaniard said during a press conference arranged to announce the preliminary squad at the BFF House yesterday.

"We want continue the good momentum we showed in SAFF. It has to be that and we cannot perform below that. That cannot happen. But we know Afghanistan is a strong team, especially physically," Cabrera said, adding that results against Afghanistan will not be his priority, instead these matches will be preparation to get positive results against Maldives.

The men in red and green, who had beaten Maldives 3-1 in the SAFF Championship, will play against their South Asian counterparts in a doubled-legged tie for the World Cup Qualifying group stage on October 12 and 17.

The Spaniard called up two new faces while excluding one from the SAFF Championship squad in his 32-member preliminary squad.

Sheikh Russel forward Dipok Roy and Azampur FC forward Sarwar Zaman Nipu are the two fresh faces in the preliminary squad, even though both are quite familiar faces in domestic football and have been regarded as future stars for a long time.

The only player left out from the last squad, which played in the SAFF Championship, is Fortis FC forward Rafikul Islam.

There were also a number of senior players who returned to the squad, including Rimon Hossain, Saad Uddin, Alomgir Molla, Matin Mia and Jafar Iqbal.

However, the coach said that this squad features players from the senior side alongside some from the Asian Games, who will be with the team till the second match against Afghanistan.

Cabrera, though, will not get all of his players to start training on Monday. Only the players who have not been part of AFC competitions recently will start from Monday while the 11 Bashundhara Kings players will join on August 25 and six Abahani players will join on August 27. Captain Jamal Bhuiyan, who is in Argentina currently, is likely to join at the start of the second week of the camp.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Anisur Rahman, Shahidul Alam, Mitul Marma, Pappu Hossain

Defenders: Bishwanath Ghosh, Topu Barman, Tariq Kazi, Rimon Hossain, Saad Uddin, Rahmat Mia, Alomgir Molla, Murad Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Isa Faysal, Atikuzzaman

Midfielders: Sohel Rana, Sheikh Morsalin, Mohammad Ridoy, Mohammad Sohel Rana, Abu Shaied, Mojubur Rahman Joni, Robiul Hasan, Jamal Bhuiyan

Forwards: Rakib Hossain, Matin Mia, Sumon Reza, Faysal Ahmed Fahim, Dipok Roy, Aminur Rahman Sojib, Sarwar Zaman Nipu, Jafar Iqbal, Mohammad Ibrahim