Dhaka, March 18 -- The preliminary squad of the Bangladesh national football team returned home from Saudi Arabia this morning (Tuesday) after a 12-day intensive training camp in the Saudi city of Taif ahead of their AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers against India.

However, Italian league forward Fahamedul Islam, who was included in the 30-member Bangladesh preliminary squad alongside Hamza Chowdhury, joined the national training camp in Taif and played a preparatory match with a local team but did not accompany the team back to Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Fahamedul returned to Italy from Saudi Arabia after Bangladesh's head coach, Javier Cabrera, decided not to consider him for the 23-member final national squad, stating, "He needed more time to joi...