National head coach Lodewijk de Kruif and assistant coach Rene Koster met with the local coaches in an hour-long session at the BFF house on Thursday.
The Dutch coaches introduced themselves to the 19 local coaches who are employed by the BFF and briefed them on the training methods of the youth-level footballers.
de Kruif directed the local coaches on the different ways of scouting football talent in the grass-root level and also on the process of nurturing them.
The Dutch coaches desired to familiarise the local coaches with the system of the typical Dutch footballing philosophy. As a student of the Dutch football school, Kruif wants to implement the Dutch playing style in Bangladesh football.
`We had an hour-long meeting with the local coaches. We told them about the coaching education, how to develop youth football and we tried to explain them about the Dutch coaching style and what we had learned,’ said de Kruif on Thursday.
`We also received few questions from them and we tried to answer the entire query. In a short time, it was not possible to explain all the things about football coaching but we hope they understood what we told them in the first gathering,’ said the Dutch head coach.
`We advised the local coaches to follow the 4-3-2-1 formation in all age-level. When the youngsters grow up, they will not face any difficulty to familiarise with the national team’s formation. It is very important to maintain harmony in the development program,’ added Kruif.
`We talked about how the talents are sorted out in the Netherlands and the educational process in the Under-12, 15, 16 and 19. Bangladesh does not boast all the age-level teams in the clubs and the federation does not also contain the programs. I will advise the federation and the club teams to step up and contribute in the development process,’ said Kruif.
The Dutch head coach also explained the planning regarding the upcoming London tour of the Bangladesh national football team.
`We will arrive in Dhaka in the middle of May to take charge of the national team who will be participating in two FIFA friendly matches against India and Pakistan at London which is scheduled to be held on June 1 and 7 respectively. Initially we might invite 30 players in the beginning of the training session and then we will leave Dhaka for the friendly mission with a 20-member team.’
`We will get at least two weeks to prepare the team. Last time we did not get enough time to train the boys in Nepal but this time we want to leave for London at least 10 days before to adapt to the European conditions. We don’t want any injured players in the team as it complicates the process. After the London tour, we will be looking forward to take full charge from July hopefully,’ added Kruif.
-With New Age input
