Dooley drops six players, including two on trial, from ASEAN Cup camp

Four of six new overseas-based footballers have retained their places in Bangladesh’s preliminary squad for the FIFA ASEAN Cup, scheduled for September 24 to October 5, after head coach Thomas Dooley trimmed it from 34 to 28 players.

The four are US-based goalkeeper Saif Amir Kerawala, Japan-based winger Shuki Itofusa, who has signed for Fortis FC this season, England-based midfielder Yousuf Ahmed and defender Zidane Yousuf, who made his debut for the Bangladesh U-20 team in their recent Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign.

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Dooley excluded Italy-based winger Debajit Sarker and Romania-based centre-back Yasar Tahmid Hasan, along with four local footballers -- Bashundhara Kings defender Taj Uddin and midfielder Syed Quazem Kirmanee Shah, and Bangladesh Police FC defender Isa Faisal and forward Rabby Hossain Rahul.

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The changes came almost two weeks into the training camp and after a practice match against Fortis.

“The more players you have for a try out, or [if] you have 34 or 32 players in the camp, you cannot really focus on the final 23,” Dooley said in Thursday’s video message.

“You have to give everybody time to play during training… focusing on the top players that we have and the ones that we select for Indonesia need the attention,” added the German-US coach.

Dooley also said a couple of overseas players will join the national camp next week, but repeated that selection will be based on their performances in the camp.

Bangladesh are scheduled to leave for Indonesia on September 19.