Bangladesh now has top expatriate midfielders like Hamza Choudhury and Shamit Shome, but the finishing qualities up front remain a major headache like before.
Looking at Tuesday’s match against Singapore, the scoring conundrum was clearly visible for all to see.
Dhaka Tribune took the insight of former forwards of three different generations as to how this missing puzzle – that is finding the back of the net more often – can be found as the national team continued their struggles in front of goal.
“We had 75% chance to get the goal in three situations. The problem is mainly technical. We are not good here. We have to be better in individual techniques,” said Ghulam Sarwar Tipu, who played as a winger in the 1960s and 70s.
“Another factor is playing under pressure. Hamza is okay in such conditions but many are not. Perhaps they couldn’t deal with the excitement,” Tipu added.
Sheikh Mohammad Aslam, the star striker of the 1980-90s, elaborated why Bangladesh forwards were not good at scoring against teams like Singapore.
“The big clubs in the top-flight league prioritize overseas players in the attacking zone where the local players don’t get enough opportunities,” said Aslam.
“If they don’t get playing time in the league, how can they develop?” he asked.
Aslam though found the overall chemistry between the expatriate and local footballers as “excellent”.
He also thinks more strikers should be produced in the national team pipeline.
“The madness for football we see now, we must utilize it by starting leagues across the country. We can get some strikers there for the national team,” hoped Aslam.
Zahid Hasan Ameli, the top national team striker of the 2000-10s, is of the opinion that center-forwards are more of a natural kind, and not produced just like that.
“We have been struggling in this position (center-forward) in the last four-five years. Nobody can make them. They are made up naturally,” said Ameli.
The dearth of a reliable center-forward led Bangladesh’s head coach Javier Cabrera to field winger Rakib Hossain in that position against Singapore.
“It is not like only the strikers are responsible for getting goals, anybody on the pitch can convert the chances. You need a game-plan for this,” he added.
Ameli said the players should also give extra effort to develop their skills.
He added: “We have strikers who don’t have the habit of scoring. They are not consistent. What they can do is build themselves with better individual skills.”
Bangladesh played two Asian Cup qualifying matches and scored once despite having plenty of possession and movements around the opponent’s box.
The men in red and green will have four months to work on finding the scoring recipe before their next Asian Cup qualifying fixture against Hong Kong at home.