Bangladesh national football team coach Javier Cabrera on Wednesday called up three expatriate footballers, Hamza Choudhury, Fahamedul Islam and Shamit Shome, in the 26-member preliminary squad for their AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers against Singapore on June 10.
The final squad for the match against Singapore will be trimmed to 23 following a friendly against Bhutan on June 4.
Both matches are set to take place at the National Stadium in Dhaka, marking its first international fixture in four years. The last time this venue hosted an international match was in 2020, prior to the commencement of renovation work.
Though Hamza made his debut for Bangladesh on March 25 against India, Fahamedul, who trained with the national team in Saudi Arabia earlier in March, and Shamit could potentially make their debuts against Singapore.
Fahamedul has already arrived in Bangladesh from Italy on Wednesday, while Hamza is expected to arrive from England on June 2 or 3 before Shamit is scheduled to arrive from Canada on June 4.
Meanwhile, Mohammedan Sporting Club defender Jahid Hasan Shanto got his maiden call-up while Abahani Limited forward Sumon Reza was recalled to the squad for the first time since March 2024.
鈥楾his is the final list of 26 players. We will try to reduce it to 25 against Bhutan because it鈥檚 a friendly match and we can keep 25 players in the squad. So everyone except Shamit will be included for that match. And then for the Singapore match, three players will be dropped,鈥� Cabrera told the reporters after announcing the squad.
鈥榃e have a very clear and specific procedure of scouting... Every single player who is coming to the team will have an impact with a lot of quality that definitely will have a positive impact on the team鈥� Singapore is a strong team, well trained, and has very good concepts, especially in attack鈥� Our team is very strong. We have full belief in ourselves.
鈥榃e want to get the three points, and we are absolutely convinced that at home in these conditions and with the full support that we are going to get.鈥�
Cabrera showed confidence when asked, 鈥業s this his best Bangladesh squad since you took charge?鈥� He replied, 鈥榊es, definitely.鈥� The players join the camp on Friday.
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PRELIMINARY SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Mitul Marma, Sujon Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Srabon; Defenders: Shakil Ahad Topu, Jahid Hasan Shanto, Rahmat Mia, Isa Faysal, Taj Uddin, Tariq Raihan Kazi, Topu Barman, Saad Uddin; Midfielders: Mohammad Ridoy, Syed Shah Quazem, Sohel Rana (sr), Mojibor Rahman Jony, Shekh Morsalin, Jamal Bhuyan, Hamza Choudhury, Shamit Shome; Forwards: Fahamedul Islam, Foysal Ahmed Fahim, Rakib Hossain, Sahariar Emon, Mohammad Ibrahim, Al Amin, Sumon Reza.
