Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif was full of praise for his players as well as the efforts of his assistant Rene Koster after winning the first match of the SS Steel International Friendly Series against Nepal at the Army Stadium yesterday.
The young Bangladeshi side displayed great character in their 1-0 victory and De Kruif duly gave credit to all the players.
“I’m very happy with the result which is very important for us. In my absence of one week, Rene did a marvellous job. The players also did very well especially in the first hour. Credit goes to everybody on the pitch,” said the Dutchman who returned to Dhaka from the Netherlands yesterday morning following a week’s leave to attend to his ailing father.
Despite the convincing victory, De Kruif believes that there is still room for improvement. He also talked about Sohel Rana’s match-winning goal. “It was a fantastic goal. It gave us the reward of playing very good football. We are happy with 1-0,” said the 44-year old coach.
Assistant coach Koster on the other hand spoke about making the best use of their resources.
“The tactical plan is very important. I told my players, we don’t have the best players but we have to make sure we have the best team. The first 75 minutes was perfect how they defended today, also how they built up from the back to midfield. We could score two or three goals in the first half. But I’m very proud of the boys,” said Koster.
“All are saying that Sohel is man-of-the-match but for me the team is the man-of-the-match,” he added.
Sohel, who scored his first goal in an international match, dedicated his goal to the crowd. “I have played many matches for the national team but never scored before and I cannot express my feeling in words,” he continued, “They (crowd) came here to watch us win. That is why the goal is extra special for me as the crowd got what they wanted.”