Two years ago, Oscar Bruzon was the assistant coach of La Liga club Real Mallorca for four months before moving back to the Indian League once again. He was the youth coach of another Spanish top-flight outfit Celta de Vigo immediately before his first job in India in 2011. Since then, the Spanish coach spent most of his last eight years in south Asia, winning the treble in Maldives last year. The former Celta youth player recently guided Bashundhara Kings to the Bangladesh Premier League title in his debut season in Bangladesh with two games in hand. The 42-year old gave an interview to Dhaka Tribune last week prior to his side’s last game of the season against Chittagong Abahani Limited.
It is your first season with Bashundhara and you have already won a couple of professional titles, including the premier league. How did it go? What are the expectations which have been met, and the ones that haven’t?
It was a very intense season because the target of the club was very ambitious from the very first moment. It is not easy to build up one team and be challenging for the title in the first season, because the players don’t know each other, you need to set the model, set the things not only in the technical side but also in the coaching staffs and management, bringing fans, having a new home ground. The right decisions taken by the president (Imrul Hasan), management, coaching staffs to the players helped us in achieving this difficult target that the club set for the first year of inception.
You won the league title, part of the treble in your debut season in Maldives (with New Radiant Sporting Club) and this season, you won the league, along with the Independence Cup on your Bangladesh debut. Which one do you savor more?
Definitely the Bangladesh Premier League. Football is a collective sport. So it’s not only about me here and executing my plan. I analyze a project before I join a project. So it’s not coincidence or it’s me coming here and playing different. It’s the idea and decision of our club president. He wanted us to play more fast football, bring professionalism in the club and put everybody in place to develop a model. He wanted to be close with Spanish football and playing different football here with bad pitches, more physical, more direct and more fights or battle on pitch. He counted on me to play different football. I’m very happy that we will play the AFC Cup next year because it is one of the main competitions in Asia and I want to contribute to the club for international exposure.
Angel Luiz was kind enough to give an interview to @DhakaTribune Tuesday as he informed that he works mainly in Asia, and provided players to 17 countries in this region.https://t.co/NMO4TsQpKq#FOOTBALL #BANGLADESH #BANGLADESHFOOTBALL #BFF #ANGELLUIZ #LUIZ #ANGEL #KINGS #DT
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) August 1, 2019
What’s your observation on the standard of BPL compared to those of India and Maldives?
The difference is, every team here in Bangladesh can give you hard time. For example, we played away against bottom-placed Team BJMC, it was the game No 18 in the league and we won all games and drew one game against BJMC, who are placed bottom in the points table. Which means the league is more competitive. There are small differences among the clubs. The set-up of foreigners fixed well with the team. There are low-budget clubs who bring strong defenders so it’s difficult to open the gate and score. This league is very different and I’m very impressed with that. In Maldives we had three or four teams always top in the table and when we faced bottom teams we had scored four, five, seven or nine goals. Here, every rival can put up good show.
This is the season record number (five) of premier league venues are located outside the capital. What’s your view on playing at different venues?
It’s an excellent idea but this idea needs to be taken forward. There were too many games in Dhaka (Bangabandhu National Stadium). Four-five teams were sharing the Dhaka stadium while the other ones were at away venues. There were some venues, they were definitely not the best but again all of we have to understand it’s the first year. All of us need to see the way forward.
Bashundhara and Abahani Limited are the top two sides in the standing. If there is only one thing that made the difference between these two team this season, what is it?
I think it is consistency. Abahani were quite consistent but we never made mistake during the league. They are six-time champion and we are newcomer and we are really here to get success. We can’t say we were better than them but we played different football which came out as more effective this season.
The players were found here and there but there was only one person, Baktyiar Duishobekov, who seen busy in gym session even when the party was already rolling.https://t.co/Sw0LcGm1va#KINGS #BASHUNDHARAKINGS #BASHUNDHARA #BAKTIYAR #FOOTBALL #BANGLADESHFOOTBALL #BPL #BANGLADESH
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) July 31, 2019
How did you motivate players like Hemanta Vincent Biswas to play in different playing positions, rather than their usual role?
It comes to the philosophy of football. In our team, we are 11 attackers and 11 defenders. I need a defender who can also attack very well and our striker needs to defend very well. We don’t have think about positions, because everybody attacks and everybody defends. We were very dynamic this year, moving constantly our positions, defending on the game condition and the rivals. There was no complaint. It is very rich for one player when they are ready to play in different positions as he become more versatile and there are more chances for him to play in the XI. So, changing position is nothing but only dynamic football.
Which players impressed you the most?
A lot. But I don’t want to give names. If I need to choose a player I choose all the players of my team. From the very first game during our pre-season friendly against New Radiant, we tried to put up something different. The players liked the idea and week after week they became stronger.
What about Daniel Colindres?
Magic, talent, class, skill. He is a top player. I’m surprised, we are very fortunate to see Colindres is playing in Bangladesh because he is a world-class player.
• The full interview will be published in the next issue of Sports Tribune.