Dhaka, Sept 16 (UNB) – Bangladesh Under-16 Football team left Dhaka for Qatar on Monday evening to participate in the Group E matches of the AFC U-16 Championship’2020 Qualifiers beginning on Wednesday at Aspire Dome Indoor Stadium in Doha keeping their birds eyes on 2nd round.  

A 31-member Bangladesh team consists of 23 booters and eight officials. Earlier, Bangladesh put in Group E of the AFC Junior meet along with Yemen, Qatar and Bhutan.
 
The Bangladesh team will play hosts Qatar on Wednesday (Sept 18), Bhutan on Friday (Sept 20) and Yemen on Sunday (Sept 22), all at the Aspire Dome in Doha. 

Addressing a pre-tour press conference here on Sunday, Head Coach of Bangladesh Robert Martin Ryles said, “Our team is well-prepared. They played some preparatory matches here. Now we’re looking for the challenge of the AFC U-16 Champs. It’ll be a good test to judge our players.”

“They are in optimum level and the competition is tough. “Anything is possible. It’ll be good to win to qualifying for the 2nd round,” he added. 
 
Bangladesh squad (Players): Md Mehedi Hasan, Rafsun Jamy Mim, Mehdi Hasan Srabon, Al Mirad, Apurbo Mali, Jony Sikder, Mohammad Azizul Hoque Ananto, Md Pias Ahmmed Nova, Md Emon Islam Babu, Sirajul Islam Rana, Sajed Hasan Jummon Nijum, Sayed Nayeem Ahmed, Kazirul Islam Hridoy, Md Rajib Hossain, Hafizur Rahman Tushar, Md Rabiul Alam, Md Ali Shakib, Saiful Islam Sumon, Asadul Molla, Siful Islam Saeed, Tauhidul Islam Sifat, Sabbir Ahamed Moni and Moniul Islam Moni.  
 

Milan, Sep 16 (AP/UNB) — AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie was reportedly subjected to racist chants over the weekend, and Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku was insulted by an Italian TV commentator.

Hellas Verona supporters aimed offensive chants at Kessie during the first half of a 1-0 loss to Milan on Sunday night, the Gazzetta dello Sport reported.

The Italian sports newspaper adds that the chants continued during halftime.

Verona tweeted Monday that the chants may have been misunderstood amid the loud cheers of its supporters, adding that there were "inevitable whistles for refereeing decisions that still today leave us very perplexed."

Verona's Mariusz Stepinski was shown a straight red card in the first half.

Verona concluded its tweet with the hashtag "respect."

Kessie, an Ivory Coast international who is black, was also subjected to racist chants by Inter Milan and Lazio fans last season.

Also Sunday, a commentator on Italian TV, Luciano Passirani, was immediately suspended for a racist comment directed at Lukaku.

Speaking on the "Qui Studio a Voi Stadio" show, Passirani started off by saying, "I don't see any other player in Italy now like Lukaku. ... I really like him," before adding, "the only way to stop him is to say, 'Here are 10 bananas that you can eat.'"

Lukaku, who is also black, was targeted with monkey chants by Cagliari fans this month. The league judge has not decided yet whether Cagliari should be punished.

Dhaka, Sep 16 (UNB) – Bangladesh Under-16 Women’s Football team are getting ready to play their next match of the eight-nation AFC U-16 Women’s Championship against three times champion Japan at IPE Chonburi Stadium on Wednesday (September 18). 

Bangladeshi girls made practices with physical training sessions followed by swimming and recovery sessions Monday. 

Bangladesh, which put in four-team Group A alongside hosts Thailand, Australia and Japan conceded a 0-1 goal defeat against hosts Thailand in the opening match at Chonburi Stadium on Sunday, despite missing some good chances.

In their last group match, Bangladesh will play Australia on Saturday (Sept 21) at IPE Chonburi Stadium.  

Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbai Choton said, Booters missed some good chances against Thailand but the girls tried their best but made some silly mistakes. 

On the other hand, three-time champions Japan played goalless draw with Australia at the IPE Chonburi Stadium last Sunday.  

Thailand are now in the top of point table securing full three points, Australia and Japan followed the leader securing one point each while Bangladesh yet to open account.
 

Dhaka, Sept 16 (UNB) — Bangladesh Cricket Board announced 15-member squad for the 3rdand 4th matches of the ongoing Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe including three new faces. 

BCB selection team overlooked top order batsman Soumya Sarkar, who is passing bad days. He scored 0 and 4 runs in the first two matches of the event that might have prompted BCB not to consider him for the next two games. 

Along with Soumya, Abu Hider Rony, Mehedi Hasan and Yasin Arafat Mishu were dropped from the squad of the previous game. Soumya ruled out due to poor performance while the other three played no matches. 

To replace them, BCB included experienced pace-duo Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossan, and three new faces- Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mohammad Naim and Aminul Islam Biplop. 

Shanto played in Tests and ODIs before while Naim and Aminul got a national call up for the first time in the career.

MinhajulAbedinNannu-led BCB selection committee,however did not come up with any interpretation of the reason behind making these changes into the T20I squad. 

Shafiul played his last T20Is back in 2017 at Bloemfontein against South Africa. Since then, he was out of national set-up until the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka after the World Cup, where he bagged six wickets in three matches and prove that he still has plenty of cricket in him to offer. Rubel, on the other hand, played his last T20Is in 2018 at Lauderhill against West Indies.

Naim and Aminul Islam are known as two of the best players who have been doing well consistently in the age-level cricket and in the High-performance unit. 

Naim played four First-class, 32 List-A and four Twenty20 games and scored 330, 1737 and 101 respectively. He has four centuries in List-A cricket. 

Aminul Islam played 19 List-A and two Twenty20 games. Along being a lower-order batsman, he is known for his leg-spinning ability. 

Simon Helmot, the coach of the High-performance unit of Bangladesh, who has been working with the players like Naim, Aminul, Afif Hossain, Yasin Arafat for a long time now, is happy to see Naim and Aminul made it to the national team squad. 

“I am really pleased to see Naim and Biplob got a call to the national team. Before them, Afif has a good first game in the ongoing series. Apart from them, Shanto, Mishu also made it to the national team. I think they have worked really hard to be there. We need this kind of cricketers to do well to help us become a strong cricketing nation,” Helmot told UNB on Monday.

“Biplob has good control over his bowling. We need some bowlers like him who can help Shakib (Al Hasan) and Taijul (Islam) in the national side and develop their own game. Not just leg-spinners, we also need good quality off-spinner as well. I hope Biplob will take advantage of his selection in the national side,” he further said. 

“The new boys should come up and display their performance as the T20 World Cup is next year. They should remain positive on their game and go accordingly,” he added. 

Bangladesh will face off Zimbabwe in their next game of the ongoing Tri-series at Chattogram on September 18 and after that, they will lock horns with Afghanistan on September 21 at the same venue. 

Bangladesh squad for 3rd and 4th matches of the Tri-series: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sabbir Rahaman, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Liton Das, Afif Hossain, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mohammad Nayeem Shaikh, Aminul Biplob and Nazmul Hossain Shanto
 

Zurich, Sep 16 (AP/UNB) — Nine years after winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar will get to show it can stage a FIFA soccer tournament when the Club World Cup goes to Doha.

Champions League winner Liverpool will be favored to extend Europe's run of 11 Club World Cup titles in 12 seasons at the Dec. 11-21 event.

Liverpool was drawn Monday to begin against one of four possible opponents, including Mexican club Monterrey, in the semifinals on Dec. 18 — Qatar's National Day.

Qatar will stage the next two editions of the often unloved club competition that FIFA is giving a radical reboot. A 24-team competition with at least eight European teams is planned to begin in June 2021, possibly in China.

Though not fully testing Qatar's readiness for the four-week World Cup, this year's seven-team club competition will showcase some of the wealthy emirate's plans to welcome teams and fans.

In Monday's draw, the South American champions will enter the competition in the semifinals against African champion Esperance of Tunisia or the Asian champions.

The tournament opens on Dec. 11 with Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia in the only first-round game. The Oceania champions will play either Qatar champion Al Sadd or the Asian Champions League runner-up if Al Sadd wins the continental title in November.