Bangladesh national football team coach Lodewijk De Kruif hit back at the fact-finding committee on Wednesday and said that they have misjudged his performance at last month’s SAFF Championship in Kathmandu. The fact-finding committee, headed by Bangladesh Football Federation vice-president Badal Roy, said that De Kruif was found, after 10 days of investigation, to have shown some indifference to the cause of the team and recommended that the BFF issue a warning to coach.
De Kruif, however, rejected the committee’s recommendation and said that it was not the right authority to judge him.
‘The fact-finding committee is, in my opinion, not a judging committee. They had impressions; they heard something from here, something from there. That was not a hundred per cent truth,’ the Dutch coach said at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Wednesday.
‘You can talk hundred per cent if you were there and you have hundred per cent knowledge,’ he added.
De Kruif also insisted that fitness coach Mohammet Yamali, who was blamed for the players’ lack of fitness, did his job properly.
‘I can polish up and clear the name of Yamali because what he did was from his own side, from his experience. [He] talked with the players, talked with the doctor and viewed reports [from
the] hospital, then the players made the decision.
‘We talked to the players. The players said: ‘Coach, I really want to go. Coach, I beg you, take me to the SAFF tournament. Coach, I want to fight for the country.’ A few weeks later Mamunul [had an] MRI scan at hospital and there was nothing to see. There were no serious injuries, only pain.
‘Sohel Rana had also many knee injuries in the past. Now he got injured just two days before we left the country, so there was no time to scan it. The mentalities of the players were: ‘I want to go; I want to fight’.’
De Kruif did, however, take responsibility for the SAFF failure.
‘At the end of the day, the coach is responsible for the result. I am the national team’s coach and I take all the responsibility.’
The coach also said that his players were satisfied with his training methods.
‘If [the BFF] is not happy with our training we will leave the country, but I knew it very clearly that every players is very happy,’ he said.
The Dutch coach again blamed the BFF for not providing accommodation facilities in the promised time when asked why he went to the Netherlands against the BFF’s wishes after the team’s SAFF preparation trip to Thailand.
‘BFF promised me: ‘When you came back to the country you would bring your family and we would arrange everything’, but they postponed again and again. I went to my country and heard unfortunately there was no arrangement and I came back with empty hand,’ De Kruif explained.
He also clarified why he missed the team’s September 25 flight to Nepal.
‘Mohsin [the coaching attendant] was in front of the car to the airport and suddenly there was a strike from RMG peoples. They were dangerous, so we turned back to take a [different route] and unfortunately missed the flight. There was nobody to blame, I think,’ he concluded.
-With New Age input
