Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin blasted the players for their poor commitment for the national team and said a bleak future is waiting for them unless they play with more responsibilities. Salauddin became emotional when he spoke to the players prior to the starting of their Asian Games camp that got underway with a warm-um match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Sunday.
‘Football is going through a difficult period,’ Salahuddin told the players. ‘The way football is running, it won’t sustain for long. We need success, you have to bring that success otherwise we will not get sponsors. With so many expenses, the federation alone cannot bear all these expense without sponsors.’
‘I don’t want moon, I don’t want star. I want the best success as per your best ability. Dedicate yourselves for the next 10 years and that would change the scenario of the football of the nation,’ he said.
The BFF president was highly critical of national skipper Mamunul Islam, who skipped the warm-up match because of the death of his uncle.
‘His uncle died two days ago. If he had wished he could still come and join. That would have given an indication of his determination. When my father died in 1994, I buried him in the afternoon and then came to the field. I did it out of my responsibility. ‘
‘Now footballers have everything – money, name and fame. We did not have so many media in our time. But we had the passion. You have everything, so I don’t understand why you cannot do it,’ said Salahuddin.
The BFF president cited an example of SAFF championship last year when some players refused to accept the pocket money of Tk 5,000. The BFF had promised them Tk 10,000 for each but could manage only half the amount which few players had rejected.
‘We spent millions for the SAFF preparations. They players were promised a pocket money of Tk 10,000. But we could give them only Tk 5,000 each,’ said Salahuddin. ‘We promised them that the rest of the amount will be given once they reach Nepal. But some players did not accept it.
‘A player earns from Tk 10-20 lakh to Tk 30 lakh in the league. Still their behaviour for so little amount was unfortunate. At that time I predicted that we cannot get any positive result from the players of this kind of attitude and this is what exactly happened,’ he said.
Bangladesh were eliminated in the first round of SAFF despite the best attempt of BFF, who had appointed Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif and his Rene Koster, keeping an eye on the title.
Kruif and Koster arrived on Saturday after lot of behind the scene drama over their unpaid wages and set their sights now on the Asian Games.
Prior to their departure for the BKSP, a practice match among Bangladesh U-23 Green and Red was played at the BNS that ended in a 1-1 draw.
Sifat put the Green team ahead in the 25th minute while Jewel Rana restored the parity for Red team in the 52nd minute.
The camp has been increased from 25 to 29 members after National Teams Committee decided to draft in—Atiqur Rahman Farhad, Aminul Islam Sajib, Abdul Malek and Mezbah Uddin to the initially announced 25-member squad.
-With New Age input
