Bangabandhu Gold Cup begins today in Sylhet

SYLHET, Jan 28 (UNB): After a gap of nearly 16 years, the third edition of the six-nation Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football Tournament begins today (Thursday) at the Sylhet District Stadium amid huge enthusiasm among the football crazy fans of the holy city.
Hosts Bangladesh, keeping their eyes on the semifinal, will play upper ranked rival Malaysia in the inaugural match beginning at 5:00 pm after a colourful opening ceremony.
Six teams-split into two groups-are taking part in the meet with Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in Group A while Bahrain, Singapore and Thailand in Group B of the meet scheduled from January 29 to February 8 in Dhaka and Sylhet.
Private satellite television 'Channel 9' will telecast all the matches, including the opening ceremony, live while Bangladesh Betar will broadcast the running commentary of the matches.
Stringent security measures will be in place during the matches of the tournament to ensure security for the participating teams and spectators.
Some 20 CCTV cameras have already been installed in the stadium area and important points of the Sylhet city while the stadium took a new look on the occasion. Sylhet will hosts three group matches and one semifinal.
Addressing a pre-match press conference at a local hotel Wednesday, both the teams expressed optimism to make a good start winning their opening match.
Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam Mamun said, "This time our preparation is good. We want to start our campaign with a winning note beating upper ranked Malaysia with the support of soccer crazy local fans, which can play an important role."
Acknowledging that Malaysia is stronger than Bangladesh, Mamun said they will try their best to win the match after manifesting best football on home soil.
Meanwhile, Dutch coach of Bangladesh National Football team Lodewijk Darius De Kruif did not attend the press conference due to illness and Assistant Coach AKM Saiful Bari Titu represented him at the conference.
Addressing the pressmen, Titu said, "We've fixed our strategy and game plan… our target is to score goal without conceding any to keep our semifinal hope alive. We'll play on 4-3-3 format in the first match today (Thursday)."
Malaysian coach Razip Ismail said predicted that their match against Bangladesh will be a tough one. He, however, said they have prepared themselves for the match and they want to play good game.
Malaysian captain Nazirul Hashim also said they want to win the match against Bangladesh although they have no clear idea about the Bangladesh team.
The Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football, approved by FIFA and AFC, will be telecast live across all six participating countries through Fox Sports and Channel 9, giving the much awaited 11-day event a true international flavour.
The second version of Bangabandhu Gold Cup was held in 1999 after the first edition in 1996.
Final squad of Bangladesh team:
Russell Mahmud, Shahidul Alam, Mohammad Mazharul Islam (goalkeeper), Rayhan Hasan, Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, Tapu Barman, Nasirul Islam Nasir, Yeasin Khan, Atiqur Rahman Meshu, Yeamin Ahmed Chowdhury Munna (defender), Mamunul Islam Mamun, Hemanta Vincent Biswas, Jamal Bhuiyan, Sohel Rana, Monayem Khan Raju, Abdul Baten Majumder Komal, Shahedul Alam Shahed (midfielder), Taklis Ahmed, Wahed Ahmed, Zahid Hossain, Zahid Hasan Ameli, Mithun Chowdhury and Sakhawat Hossain Rony (forward).