Bangladesh national team coach Lodewijk de Kruif blamed the referees’ panel after their second Group A match of the 10th SAFF Championship against India on Tuesday.
Dutch coach De Kruif pointed his finger at Sri Lankan referee Crishantha D. Perrera and fourth official Adham Muhammad Tumah Makhadmeh of Jordan, who had also officiated in Bangladesh’s opening match against Nepal on Saturday.
Bangladesh lost the tournament opener 2-0 against hosts Nepal before being held to a 1-1 draw by neighbouring India in their penultimate group match.
‘Those two match officials destroyed our game,’ said an angry De Kruif at the post-match press conference at the Halchowak Stadium.
The Dutchman reacted furiously after being questioned about the performance of the officials during the match.
‘I don’t know. Maybe [Sri Lankan referee Perrera] had a bad night or maybe he had a quarrel with his wife or something. But the guy was crazy,’ said a dejected De Kruif.
‘From the first moment he was complaining to our bench that there was something wrong with the players, there was something wrong with the players’ cards, there was something wrong with the shoes, there was something wrong with, I don’t know, the way we [combed] our hair.
‘But nobody was talking against India. I don’t know why, but I can’t ask [Perrera] now because if I see him now, I don’t want to talk [to him] and I might want to do something else,’ said the coach.
De Kruif sympathised with his unit, some of whom were reduced to tears after the India match ended in a draw.
‘I don’t want to always have the media very close to my team. This time, I would say – go to the dressing room. Take your picture. Everyone was crying, it’s terrible,’ the coach added.
De Kruif said that he did not want to put pressure on his players ahead of the last group match against Pakistan because he was still hopeful that a win might be enough to seal a spot in the last four.
‘Tomorrow [Wednesday] I have to talk to the players. Not much time. The loss of Nepal hammered us and this was a double [blow] for me. So I wouldn’t want to strain my players. I want to motivate them so we can win against Pakistan,’ said De Kruif.
The Dutch coach also gave full marks to his players as they put in a spirited display after the defeat against Nepal.
‘When you compare the [India] game with Nepal, we showed good fighting spirit. Good organisation against a team who were well organised and who also come from a strong football background,’ said the Dutch coach.
‘My young boys did fantastic. They [applied] pressure everywhere. They fought like maybe it was their last second on earth. All the hard work resulted in a good goal. We did a lot of restarts, corner kicks, free kicks. We studied them and you could see today [Tuesday] it had the result of 1-0,’ he said.
De Kruif also raised a question with a free-kick awarded to the Indian side by Sri Lankan referee Perrera with just 10 seconds remaining before the final whistle.
‘Was it a foul, yes or no, I don’t think so. [Mamun] told me in the dressing room it was not a foul. But the referee was on their side, everyone could see that. But we have to be very proud of goalkeeper Mamun [Khan]. He wasn’t 100 percent fit but still played with two injections in his injured knee,’ he said.
-With New Age input
