Footballers in Cox's Bazar

The national football team reached Cox's Bazar last night to begin the first leg of their three-month preparation for the SAFF Championship in December.

The booters, who left the BFF Bhaban yesterday at 9.30 am by bus, halted at Noakhali for lunch during a long journey.

The team will train for one month at the tourist resort near the country's southern tip before returning to the capital for the World Cup 2010 pre-qualifiers against Tajikistan in October.

The coaches will then select an under-23 squad for the Grand Royal Cup to be held in Myanmar in November before resuming training for the regional football festival, which will be jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Although 33 footballers were named for the preliminary camp, some seniors, alarmingly, did not accompany the team.

Midfielders Abul Hossain and key striker Zahid Hassan Emily both requested the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to allow them join the team a day later due to personal reasons while Mehdi Hassan Ujjal claimed that he was sick and advised by the team physician to rest for a few days.

BFF acting general secretary Manzoor Hossain Malu, who is also the chairman of the National Team Management Committee, however, informed that he did get any report from team doctor.

Veteran center-back and former captain Rajani Kanta Barman also will be late, said Malu adding that two senior players - Matiur Munna and Fereoz Mahmud Titu - did not even report to the BFF.

The footballers only returned this week after playing the Nehru Cup and the Merdeka Cup in India and Malaysia respectively.

Coach Hasanuzzaman Babloo accompanied the team while assistant coach Golam Jilani had left Dhaka a day early to make some arrangements.

Malu also informed that head coach Syed Nayeemuddin will return to Dhaka after a short vacation in India. The former Indian coach and international is expected to land in Dhaka this morning from Kolkata by a GMG flight. He will leave for Chittagong also today.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper and national captain Aminul Haque has refused to join the residential camp unless he is officially called.

The acting general secretary of BFF had asked him to enroll unofficially after coach Nayeemuddin showed his reluctance to include Aminul for missing an entire season through injury.