MD ANWAR ULLAH, Dhaka: Head coach of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Jamie Day, who returned Dhaka last week from London ahead of FIFA friendly matches with Nepal, is focusing mainly on the players’ better fitness to have a well-built national side for the upcoming tough assignments.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Thursday, Jamie expressed his concerns over the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic that has already forced England to enter fresh nationwide lockdown, and laid emphasis on safety as he wants the players back in training ahead of their matches against Nepal.
Nepal national team arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to play the matches scheduled for Nov 13 and 17.
The Bangladesh head coach left Bangladesh right after the suspension of all football activities on March 15 due to the coronavirus-triggered global crisis and returned on October 29 ahead of the FIFA friendly matches, and World Cup 2022 and Asia Cup 2023 qualifiers.
“England has joined other nations in Europe with a second nationwide lockdown from Friday (Nov 5) and lasting at least four weeks and cases in Bangladesh kept rising … it’s a serious issue across the world. So we need to do our best to stay safe and follow all guidelines,” he said.
About his one week observation over players’ fitness, Jamie said, “I think they have worked really hard for the last few weeks with Kaisar (deputy to Jamie) before we arrived and now there still a little way off being fully fit, and we will push them as much as we can.”
About the final choice for national side, the national head coach said it depends on whether they will have anymore matches in December. “It will depend on if we have anymore game later in the year. If no more games, then we would possibly have two teams but if we have a match in December then we will focus on one team.”
Replying to a query over Nepal coach’s firmness — we are not going to concede defeat — Jamie said, “Yes any coach wants to win matches, so I expect them to be very tough. They are in better position in terms of FIFA ranking so it’s going to be very difficult match.”
“We don’t know how the players will react in the first game after seven months. I am looking for players to get back into working on the shape and getting fitter,” he told The Independent about his expectation with the upcoming matches.
Whether the team is ready for playing the two matches and serious about the importance of winning these games against Nepal, Jamie said, “We are still little way off at the moment. It’s nice to win but it’s not the main focus, the main focus is on getting the players back in training with the national team.”
 Jamie Day, who returned Dhaka last week from London ahead of FIFA friendly matches wit){kind=link}