Fortis Striker Rafael Tudu Overlooked for National Team Despite Scoring Run
While Bangladesh's footballers have been suffering a goal drought in international football, Rafael Tudu has scored for Fortis in the AFC Challenge League against clubs from India and Tajikistan. He had also found the net earlier in the domestic league.
Even so, Tudu has not caught the eye of the national team's head coach.
Coach Duli had placed his striking faith in Ronan Sullivan and Mahi Khan. Ronan, however, did not come because of injury.
With Ronan absent, there was talk in football circles that Tudu might get a call-up. The coach, however, did not call up any new player.
October 18 was the deadline for submitting the names of 28 footballers for the SAFF tournament. As hosts, Bangladesh has not submitted its names yet; they are due to be submitted tomorrow. Despite taking this long, coach Duli did not feel the need to call Tudu.
Former national football team captain Zahid Hasan Emily believes Tudu should have been called up. He said Tudu has been performing very well over the past month and deserved a national team call-up as a result, and that after Ronan's injury he could have been considered as the number nine — though perhaps the coach did not want to experiment at the last moment.
