Bangladesh have been drawn in much easier group in the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2018 to be held in Dhaka from September 4 to 15. The home team will start their campaign with a match against Bhutan on the opening day.

Bangladesh as the host country placed in Group A along with Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. Defending champions India have been drawn in Group-B in the seven nations tournament. The other two teams in Group B are Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The  grouping draw ceremony was held at a hotel in the capital yesterday morning with the BFF and South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) President Kazi Mohammed Salahuddin the chair. SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Haque Helal conducted the draw ceremony.  Seiji Hamada, Suzuki Motor Corporation Advisor, BFF Vice-president Kazi Nabil Ahmed and BFF general secretary  Abu Nayem Sohag also spoke on the occasion. SAFF President Kazi Mohammed Salahuddin and Seiji Hamada exchanged mementos before the draw ceremony started.

 Since the BFF president I also the president of SAFF, he mostly avoided the queries about the Bangladesh team later at a press conference. He said, “T think it’s a fair draw. As a Bangladeshi definitely I would except my country would fare well.”

“You see the BFF has provided the best possible facilities to Bangladesh footballers to prepare for the international matches. Probably you are aware of we didn’t get playing facilities when I or the man sitting next to me (Abdus Salam) used to play for the national team.”

He said during the last 10 years the federation has provided all the facilities to players with a hope to see a better result.

The BFF president tactfully avoided a question that the Bangladesh team did not fare well in the recent past international matches. “ Let us hope the boys perform a better game and bring a positive result for the nation,” said the BFF president.

Replying to another question, the SAFF president ruled out the possibility of inclusion of any new member in the SAFF in place of Afghanistan who withdrew their name from the South Asian zone and joined Central Asian zone. replied

Kazi Nabil Ahmed, who is also the chairman of national team management committee, said that Bangladesh team have started their preparation a few months ago. “We arranged training session in Qatar, played friendly matches with Thailand teams and Laos and we will play a few more preparation matches at home and away before the start of the tournament.”

He further said that the BFF is looking to appoint  a new coach for the national team. “Within next one week we would appoint a new coach, However, team’s technical and strategic director Paul Smally is here and he is supervising the training camp,” said Nabil Ahmed.

Anwarul Haque Helal gave a brief account of SAFF Championship which started in 1993 and Dhaka is hosting the tournament for the third time.. India won the title seven times, while Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka bagged the championship one time each. Bangladesh won the title in 2003 at home.