National football team’s full-back Rahmat Mia said that their target is to play in the final in the Tri-nation Tournament that would be held on March 23-29 at Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu in Nepal even though the upcoming tournament will be a platform of preparation for World Cup qualifying fixtures in June.
The Saif SC player thinks fitness or cohesiveness among the players will not be an issue as the first phase of the league just concluded recently, with all the squad members involved.
“Everyone is fit. Since we have very short time at hand, the training will be mostly tactical,” Rahmat said.
Skipper Jamal Bhuiyan, who is currently with Kolkata Mohammedan playing inI -League, will join the team in Nepal.
The tournament kicks-off on March 23 with Bangladesh, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan Olympic team slated to play each other once before the top two teams play in the final on 29 of this month.
‘The hosts are a formidable opponent, but we are not afraid of any team. We will try our level best to win the tournament,’ Rahmat said.
‘We will definitely go with the target of playing in the final,’ the 21-year-old said. `There is nothing to be afraid off, instead good oppositions always give you more incentive to perform well,’ he added.
With the World Cup qualifiers deferred to June, the full-back feels that this tournament will be a good preparation for them.
‘Since we have not had played of the national team for some time, these outings will be helpful. This will be a good preparation for us ahead of the World Cup qualifiers,’ said the full-back.
The team will leave for Nepal on March 18 after receiving the COVID-negative certificates.
