Last year's finalists, Bangladesh have been placed alongside holders Malaysia and South Asian opponents Nepal and Sri Lanka in Group A. Whereas, Bahrain, Maldives Cambodia and Bangladesh U23 have been placed in Group B. The opening match will take place at the Shamsul Huda Stadium in Jessore between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on January 8. Jessore will host four more matches after which the teams will shift to the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. The eight-team tournament is scheduled to end on January 20. The groupings were disclosed at a city hotel yesterday. http://www.thedailystar.net/sports/football/bd-grouped-malaysia-194191
That line from the link “ Bangabandhu Gold Cup will turn into one of the best football tournament in Asia by 2018,” added the finance minister..... Due to such mentality from BFF, Bangladesh football is lagging behind.
Malaysia, Maldives and Bahrain will send age level teams. http://www.goalbangladesh.com/2015/12/30/bangabandhu-gold-cup-2016-draw-held/
goalbangladesh.com brushed BFF- http://www.goalbangladesh.com/2016/...development-an-insult-to-bangabandhu-as-well/
Best tournament in Asia . I always hate it when people with political agendas somehow manage to worm their way to control football associations.
Bangladesh 4-2 Sri Lanka http://www.thedailystar.net/sports/football/bangladesh-begin-winning-knot-beating-sl-4-2-198973
The Maldives team is not the U-23 side earlier reported by the media. While most of the squad is made up of our Olympic Team, long serving midfielder Ashadh Ali is the captain and oft overlooked players like Ismail Easa and Ali Fasir have been given starting berths by Ricki Herbert. It was interesting to see the team perform without the core group of players we've become over-reliant on (Ali Ashfaq, Mohamed Arif and Imran Mohamed). Our defense is still crap though. Some things just refuse to change.
Status of the participating teams this edition: * Bangladesh- full strength * Bangladesh U23- lost 9 players to senior team but at the same time got 6 senior players to strengthen the line up. Fielded 4 seniors in the starting line up in the first match. 3 defenders and the keeper. * Sri Lanka- senior team, lost 3 or 4 players from SAFF Championship due to fatigue and injury. * Nepal- goalnepal claimed it right that the U23 side would come with few senior players but actually FIFA has been made convinced by their federation that this is the senior side. * Maldives- came without 5 important players from the SAFF Championship squad and will be playing all the matches as senior side. * Cambodia- the head coach informed that the team got 70% of the main players available. And I found out that 6 of the starting XI players who appeared in Cambodia’s last match before the Maldives tie against Japan have come here. And 2 of 3 subs of that match are also here. There are 8 more Cambodians in the touring squad who appeared for its senior side last year. * Malaysia- Felda United came here under the banner of Malaysia XI without any foreign player. Malaysian federation appointed Irfan Bakti as Malaysia XI coach who won the first edition of Bangabandhu Gold Cup with Malaysia B back in 1996. * Bahrain- lost few key players due to their exam but is able to bring a pretty decent U21 side. *** Till now FIFA site is showing all the matches as FIFA friendlies except the matches against and among Bangladesh U23, Malaysia XI and Bahrain U21.
Bangladesh U23 0-2 Maldives Lack of finishing touch and fitness have been the problem in every match.
Maldives 1-1 Bahrain U21 Maldives and Bahrain U21 qualified for the semis as group champion and runner up respectively. Maldives will face Nepal. And Bahrain U21 will have to face the host.