Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin on Tuesday blasted the national football team after their 0-2 loss to Abahani in a warm-up match ahead of the Banganadhu Cup football at the BKSP. Salahuddin summoned the football team to the BFF headquarters in Dhaka in the morning to vent his frustration. They players had to skip their scheduled training to meet the BFF president, who, according to players, was extremely unhappy with their Tuesday’s show.
The national team lost the match to George Kottan’s Abahani, who were inspired by their under trial Hungarian forward Szabolcs Csobra.
‘Salahuddin Bhai was not happy with our performance against a club side,’ said midfielder Mamunul Islam after the meeting. ‘He [Salahuddin] also tried to inspire us for putting our best performance in the Bangabandhu Cup.
‘We promised to meet him again after qualifying for the semi-finals,’ said the Sheikh Jamal midfielder.
The players and coach had a long discussion with Salahuddin, who, Mamnul said asked them how they could lose to a club side.
According to Mamunul, interim coach Saiful Bari Titu also did not try to make any excuse.
Titu later included Abahani midfielder Shahedul Alam Shahed and winger Abdul Baten Komol to the national team preliminary squad after an impressive performance of the duo in the warm-up match.
The team left for BKSP in the afternoon to re-join the training camp.
-With New Age input
