Jamal hails unity as Bangladesh prepare for Vietnam, Singapore
With players like Hamza Chowdhury and Shamit Shome integrating into the squad, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan said there is “no difference” in mindset between foreign-based and home-grown players, as the team prepare for a March 26 friendly against Vietnam and their final 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifier against Singapore on March 31.
“It’s been a year now, and the chemistry is good, everyone shares a good bonding with others,” Jamal told reporters after training at Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka on Thursday.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. “We have the same jokes, same stories, so there is no difference between foreign-based and home-grown ones,” he added.
The men in red and green have regrouped after a four-month break since their historic win over India last November.
“We have resumed training after four months,” he said, adding that the squad will soon be complete.
“Hamza will join after two days, then we’ll have the full squad.”
Jamal also revealed that preparations are largely centred on the decisive Singapore clash, with tactical tweaks expected.
“Actually, we are preparing with the focus on how we’ll play against Singapore. You’ll get to see some formation changes in the Singapore match. We’ll play them as we did in the first half [away] at Hong Kong.”
Head coach Javier Cabrera, meanwhile, said the team had quickly adapted after their opening session on Wednesday was disrupted by a storm.
“We need to adjust to what happened yesterday [Wednesday]. We had a good first training session. We were unlucky yesterday due to storm, but this can happen, so we just adapt to that,” Cabrera said.
“We’ll be travelling in the night and have a long journey tomorrow [Friday].”
Looking ahead, the Spanish coach acknowledged the challenge posed by Vietnam but remained confident in his side’s competitiveness.
“Vietnam on paper are a stronger team, individually might be stronger than Singapore.
“We have seen that the difference is not that big. But we’ll be able to compete against both… and go with the mentality of winning,” he added.
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