Sports Desk

Bangladesh national football team survived a scare last night as their Muscat-bound Bangladesh Biman aircraft returned to the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after hovering in the sky for nearly an hour following departure.

“Our flight was at 9.45pm but it was delayed by almost two hours. The flight even hovered in the air for half an hour after take-off. Then the announcement came from the captain that we were going back to Dhaka because of some technical problem. Naturally the players were scared,” team manager Satyjit Das Rupu told The Daily Star over phone this morning few minutes ahead of the morning flight`s take-off.

The team eventually left for Muscat at around 11:00am by BG021 flight of Bangladesh Biman.

The team will have a 10-day training camp in Muscat which will be followed by the World Cup qualifying fixture against Oman on November 14.

The Red and Greens are at the bottom of Group E with a single point from three games, but a dominating draw against India in Kolkata last month following a close 2-0 defeat against Qatar at home lifted the spirit of the footballers and everyone concerned.

The foreign coaching staff, including head coach Jamie Day who was holidaying in USA, is supposed to join the team in Muscat later today.

Captain Jamal Bhuiyan, who was in Barcelona for doing commentary on Barcelona’s La Liga match against Levante, is supposed to join the team in Muscat later today.

The team is supposed to play a warm-up match on November 9 against a top Omani club as part of their preparation.