Boys to leave with big dreams

The Bangladesh Under-14 football team will leave for Malaysia on Saturday to take part in the Super Mokh Cup with the hopes of qualifying for the Cup stage after finishing as champions and runners-up in the Plate stage for the past two years.

After completing the round robin fixtures, the top two teams from each of the five groups will advance to the Cup stage, while the bottom two will play the Plate stage of the tournament which features 20 clubs and national teams from 13 countries including Portugal, Japan, Brazil, France and South Korea.

Bangladesh begin their campaign on December 12 against hosts Malaysia Cougars. The other teams in their group, Group C, are Myanmar and Japan's Kawasaki Frontale.

The boys in red and green have practised for nearly two weeks now after being picked through trials in which players from Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan and a few private football academies took part.

“Though we have been participating in the Super Mokh Cup for the past two years, we failed to take proper preparation this time as well. But we want to put emphasis on youth development and this is the first step of the initiative,” said BFF development committee chairman Badal Roy. “Though it is a football festival, there is huge competition among the participating teams and we hope the team will do better this time around.”

Echoing his previous pledge, BFF president Kazi Salahuddin once again promised to arrange year-round training for the boys.

“It is a trial for you boys [who were present at the press conference]. We will run a residential training camp in the future and we will pick the players who will impress in the tournament,” stated Salahuddin.