Keeping an eye on the two home matches of the Joint Qualifiers for the World Cup and Asian Cup in June, the Bangladesh national team started its camp with an hour's light training session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Only 11 players joined the camp on the opening day and had light practice under goalkeeping coach Christian Schweichler and trainer Masud Parvez Kaisar in absence of head coach Lodewijk de Kruif, who is scheduled to take charge after arriving here on May 20. Ten players of Sheikh Jamal DC -- except for Nasiruddin Chowdhury, Yeasin Khan, Shahidul Alam and Jamal Bhuiyan -- and Team BJMC goalkeeper Mohammad Nayeem were part of the session as members of the other teams returned to their respective club camps after reporting in the morning due to the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League.

The other players are supposed to join the camp after their respective last matches of first leg of the league while Germany-based attacking midfielder Reasat Khaton is supposed to join the camp after May 24.

Even though two home matches of qualifiers are the main concern, the booters are at the moment thinking of the two warm-up matches against Singapore (May 30) and Afghanistan (June 2).

“The two practice matches are very important for us because we can understand what the level we are at the moment,” said captain Mamunul Islam, who is nursing a hamstring injury sustained during a league match.

With the inclusion of in-form strikers Enamul Haque and Towhidul Alam Sabuz, Mamunul believes the strength of the attack line has been increased and that the coach will get more options to choose from. Enamul has scored 12 goals so far this season while Sabuz has netted six.

“Everyone is in action and has been playing consistently. We want to produce good results in the warm-up matches before facing Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,” said Abahani right-back Nasirul Islam before going back to his club tent.

Generally the starting eleven of Bangladesh squad consists of seven to eight players of Sheikh Jamal. But most of the players of the club are suffering from physical and mental fatigue due to continuous football since December.

“We are a bit tired due to hectic schedule (King's Cup, Bangabandhu Gold Cup, Federation Cup and Bangladesh Premier League) and need a few more days to recover. Hopefully we will be fit again before the warm-up and qualifying matches,” said young midfielder Sohel Rana.

Trainer Kaiser informed that they have been conducting recovery training sessions at the moment and the tactical aspects will start once de Kruif takes charge.

Meanwhile, three coaches involved with Australian Football Federation – Josh McCloughan, Sean Douglas and Carl Veart – will visit Bangladesh next month to watch Bangladesh's matches against Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The Socceroos are one of the four Group B opponents of Bangladesh in the Joint Qualifiers. They will host the Red and Green Shirts in Perth on September 03.