National football team’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif on Thursday said that he, alongside his assistant Rene Koster want to settle the issue of outstanding wages before they start planning for the international friendly against India scheduled for March 5. De Kruif informed the media that both he and Koster were still to receive their wages for the last three months although they expressed their hope that they will come to a solution once they discuss the matter with Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin.
‘We weren’t here for too long. There were a lot of problems with the BFF. Now we have to talk to the president and vice-presidents [Tabith Awal and Kazi Nabil Ahmed] about how to continue our job,’ Kruif told reporters at the BFF House.
‘There are some important things to discuss. When all the things will be solved we can continue on our good way. The most important thing is the match against India. We heard about [the match] [Thursday].
‘We want to settle our outstanding salary for three-four months. There were political problems and the last date of solving the problem was February 1 and it is time to talk about it,’ he said.
De Kruif added that they did not harbour any ill feelings towards the BFF for the delay.
‘There is no hard feelings and anger among us but we should talk about it,’ said the 44-year old Dutchman, whose last assignment was with the national under-19 side during the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers in Iraq last year in October.
De Kruif is now chalking out his plans to prepare the national side for the India friendly slated to be held in Goa, India.
‘We have to talk with the players within a short time before the [national] camp. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club are not in the country and we cannot use their players but what we can do is make a shortlist with 30 players and we want to start the camp as soon as possible,’ he said.
-With New Age input
