Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 29 : The Bangladesh Army Football Team, one of the two foreign teams to take part in the 132nd Durand Cup, arrived in the city with a warm welcome from their hosts. The Bangladesh team are in Group A, which will be played in Kolkata and come up against local favourites Mohun Bagan Super Giant, in the very first match of the tournament on Wednesday, August 3, 2023. The squad is being coached by Abdur Razaak.
The Bangladesh Army Football team has a squad strength of 42 and is captained by Nurul Haque Shuvo. They were flown to Kolkata after being picked up by an Indian Air Force C-130 from Dhaka.
They find themselves in a tough group along with another local giant Emami East Bengal and newly promoted Indian Super League (ISL) side Roundglass Punjab FC. What might work in their favour is that conditions and the buzz and noise from the stands might be similar to that of home and the fact that they play all their group games on the 3rd, 6th and 10th of August at the same Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) venue.
They also have a strong squad of professional footballers, primarily eight of them including the likes of Mehedi Hasan Mithu, Kamrul Islam and Minhaj Abedin Ballu, on loan from their recent Federation Cup champions Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting.
The 132nd Durand Cup 2023 can be watched live on the Sony Sports Ten 2 channels as well as live stream on SonyLIV. The scheduled kick-off is at 5.45 pm Indian Standard Time (IST).
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