The Bangladesh team reached the 2nd round in the prestigious Asiad Men’s Football as the Group B runners-up for the first time adding a glorious chapter to the country’s soccer arna eliminating top ranking Qatar, the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
But, in the pre-quarterfinal, Bangladesh were eliminated from the race after conceding a 1-3 defeat against two times Asiad finalists and the quarterfinals of 1966 FIFA World Cup North Korea on Friday last.
Earlier in the other Group B matches, Bangladesh played 1-1 draw with upper ranked Thailand and suffered 0-3 goals defeat against former champions and group topper Uzbekistan.
Twenty players and officials, out of 35, reached Dhaka while remaining 14 players and officials, including the Head Coach, are expected to reach here at 10pm on Sunday by a flight of Malindo Air.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will be the first foreign side to arrive here along with Bangladesh team from Indonesia in the same flight to compete in the seven –nation SAFF Suzuki Cup Football’2018 beginning on September 4 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
Bangladesh, which were placed in Group A with Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan, will play Bhutan in the 2nd match on the opening day (Sept 4) while Pakistan will play Nepal in the opening match. India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have been put in Group B of the meet.
Sri Lankan will travel to Rangpur on Monday morning to play a FIFA International Friendly match against Bangladesh on Wednesday (Aug 29) at 4 pm at the Sheikh Kamal Stadium in Nilphamari.
However, Bangladesh will travel to Rangpur on Tuesday to play the friendly.