Leicester City have appointed former Queens Park Rangers head coach Marti Cifuentes as their manager on a three-year contract, the Championship side said on Tuesday.
For more than two decades, Bangladeshi football has remained confined to domestic competition, with no significant international success.
Meanwhile, reigning world champions Argentina have retained their top spot
Tanned by summer heat, tuned by a season of relentless graft at Sheffield United, and tested by rollercoaster ride with Bangladesh, the 26-year-old returned to the club where his footballing identity was forged.
About 10 years ago, in 2015, the Bangladesh national football team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Singapore in a FIFA friendly match. Tuesday’s identical 2-1 defeat to the same opponent in the Asian Cup Qualifiers at the same ground gives the impression that the men in red and green have remained in the same place they were a decade ago -- despite the inclusion of expatriate players like Hamza Choudhury and Shamit Shome.
Bangladesh’s 2-1 defeat to Singapore in the Asian Cup Qualifiers wasn’t just a defeat -- it was a missed opportunity to build something better with the right tools finally in hand. And that’s exactly what former striker and Mohammedan’s league-winning coach Alfaz Ahmed is talking about: we finally have the parts, but we don’t know how to assemble the machine.
Bangladesh midfielder Shamit Shome expressed his disappointment following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Singapore in an AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture at the National Stadium on Tuesday but remained optimistic about the future of Bangladesh football.
Just hours after Bangladesh’s defeat against Singapore in an AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture, coach Javier Cabrera as well as foreign-born players -- Hamza Choudhury and Shamit Shome -- departed Dhaka, confirmed a key member of the team’s management.
“Not the result we wanted! But we can be proud as a team and as a nation!! We need to stay positive because we’re only just getting started and inshaAllah we will be where we want to be very soon!” Hamza wrote in a heartfelt social media post after the match.
Excitement and anticipation are at an all-time high in Snanghat village of Bahubal Upazila, Habiganj, as English footballer of Bangladeshi origin, Hamza Choudhury, prepares for a historic visit.
Rahmatganj right-back Mohammad Taj Uddin said he was eager to play alongside Sheffield United’s Hamza Choudhury and looked forward to talking with Hamza in Sylheti.
National team forward Mohammad Ibrahim said all the players are eager for a place in the starting eleven, particularly because the opposition is India, as the men in red and green continue to ramp up preparations in training for their Asian Cup Qualifiers match on March 25 against their neighbours.
The men in red and green are expected to fly out to India on March 19, a day after Hamza Chowdhury is expected to join the team in Dhaka.
Sheffield United midfielder Hamza Choudhury has been named alongside Italy-based young midfielder Fahamedul Islam in the 38-member preliminary squad for Bangladesh’s first Asian Cup Qualifiers match against India, which will be held in Shilong on March 25.
The midfielder, who recently declared to play for Bangladesh the country of his mother’s birth, follows striker Tom Cannon to Bramall Lane as Leicester free up funds to add to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s squad before the end of the transfer window.
Bangladesh national team coach Javier Cabrera believes the inclusion of Leicester City footballer Hamza Choudhury will increase the standard of the team in coming days.
Bangladesh national football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan said it would be a proud moment for the country to see Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury put on a red and green jersey, but wants to see more players like Hamza playing in the Bangladesh ranks.
The phenomenon of expatriate footballers seeking to represent the national team is not new for Bangladesh, though.
Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury has hoped that his decision to switch allegiance from England to Bangladesh will open up avenues for Bangladeshi players to play in European leagues.
