Bangladesh defeated Bhutan 2-0 in an international friendly match yesterday. Hamza Chowdhury and Sohel Rana scored one goal each in both halves. Hamza Chowdhury’s first goal in a Bangladesh jersey and Sohel Rana scored a goal in a national team jersey after a long time.
There is no practice for the Bangladesh team today (Thursday). So the media was in a crowd at the team hotel the day after the match for feedback. After noon, manager Amer Khan and yesterday’s goal scorer Sohel Rana faced the media.
Currently, one of the team’s senior footballers, Sohel Rana’s goal basically ensured the victory of the Bangladesh team. He sees the team’s victory more than his own goal. He says, ‘The Bangladesh team is more important than my goal. I feel good because I was able to do something for the team. I scored a goal for the national team after a long time.’
He also said, yesterday was Hamza Chowdhury’s first home match. Hamza scored a goal in his debut match at home. This is a joy for other Bangladeshi footballers. Since Hamza is playing for the first time, he scored and won in his first home match. This is a joy for the players.
He described the moment after the goal as follows, ‘Everyone is appreciating after scoring. All of us players are closely and friendly with Hamza. It doesn’t seem like he lives abroad. It seems like he is a Bangladeshi boy, the culture of Bangladesh is the same as ours.’
Italian expatriate footballer Fahmidul Islam made his debut yesterday. Sohel also praised Fahmidul. He said, ‘Fahmidul performed well. Although the weather and environment are new, he was able to adapt very quickly.’
Meanwhile, Samit Som, who plays for the Canada national team, did not play yesterday’s match. He will play the match against Singapore. With Samit’s arrival, Bangladesh’s strength is increasing further. ‘Samit Som is coming, our team is getting stronger day by day. More (expatriates) will come in the future. It is good for the country’s football,’ added Sohel.
Sohle Rana, Tapu Barman, Jamal Bhuiyan, Saad Uddin, Rahmat and a few others had experience playing at the national stadium. Football returned to the national stadium after four years. This gave senior footballers an extra thrill. For Morsalin, Mitul and many others, it was like a new debut. Tomorrow’s match was basically a warm-up before Singapore. So the Bangladesh team’s full attention is on Singapore. Sohel said, ‘Yesterday we could not implement the coach’s plan 100 percent. We did a lot; I hope we will be ready in the next few days.’
