Bangladesh national team coach Lodewijk de Kruif lamented the underperformance of some of his players, which he felt was the reason behind his side’s first-round exit from the 10th SAFF Championship. Bangladesh exited the regional football tournament with just a solitary point from three games, finishing last in Group A behind table-toppers Nepal, India and Pakistan.
The green-and-red outfit fell to a morale-sapping 2-1 defeat against Pakistan in their third and final group game at the Halchowk Stadium on Thursday, which prompted Dutch coach De Kruif to sound out a note of caution towards some of his underperforming players.
Bangladesh had earlier lost 2-0 in their opening game against hosts Nepal before being held to a 1-1 draw by India.
‘I have to admit a few players were not in the game [on Thursday]. A few were absolutely terrible and it will have consequences because we trained them up, we talked with them, we gave them a chance and they did not take it,’ an agitated De Kruif said at the post-match press conference.
‘With a few of them I have my doubts. I won’t name names. It will have consequences, because I cannot work with these players. I want to work with players who want to work for their country. So we will re-select,’ he added.
The Dutchman was visibly upset with the poor return of one point from three games, as he felt that if Bangladesh had converted their chances it would have been a different picture altogether.
‘Three games, one point – disappointing. I’m absolutely not satisfied. Although it was a group of death, we had our chances. We didn’t take our chances,’ said De Kruif.
‘We had five or six chances [against Pakistan]. You convert your chances, otherwise you’re in trouble. We missed many chances, which was unfortunate,’ he added.
De Kruif went on to stress the importance of learning from mistakes before reiterating his stance on the players who failed to shine in the tournament.
‘For me it was a disappointing tournament. We as coaches saw many good things and also bad things. We have to learn from the bad things and the mistakes,’ said the Dutchman.
‘We will re-select because a few players were not ready or good enough or didn’t have the qualities, especially mentally. We are done with them and [will] start to find other players in the country,’ he added.
The Bangladesh coach, however, pointed out some
footballers who have impressed him throughout the eight-team tournament.
‘[Atiqur Rahman] Meshu did very well. Raihan [Hasan] was very good with his long throws, which is a special quality in him. Jamal [Bhuiyan] played fantastic. Among [Omar Faruk] Babu, Sohel [Rana], Raihan and Toklis [Ahmed], two of them are 18-years old and two are 19.
‘It’s fantastic to see them fight for the team, fight for the country. That is what we like. Of course they have technical qualities. This is the future of Bangladesh,’ he said.
De Kruif also spoke in detail about how to improve the national side in the future.
‘Development. Making progress begins at the youth level. You have to start from somewhere. At this moment there is no organisation, there is no structure at all,’ said the coach.
‘You need time for it. It’s a process. It will take time. Six or seven years. Then you will produce top grade footballers. When we are back in Bangladesh the Under-16 and Under-19 tournaments are coming, which are important,’ he added.
-With New Age input
