Citing the lack of money and facilities for the preparation compared to the other countries, Bangladesh national football team head coach Lodewijk de Kruif urged all not to harbor high expectations from the national team ahead of the 17th Asian Games which is scheduled to take place in South Korea next month.
The Dutchman along with his assistant and compatriot Rene Koster conducted the first training session of the U-23 national team yesterday afternoon at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. While speaking to the media after the training session which was followed by a practice match, Kruif, however, pledged to give hundred percent from his side and hoped for a bit of luck to achieve success in Incheon, Korea.
“Our fellow countries around us had already started their preparation three or four weeks ago. So we are little bit behind,” said Kruif before adding, “Every country around us has more money, more facilities. Even India set their training camp in Europe. So let’s keep both feet on the ground and not expect too much.
I will give everything to train the team for the win but still we can’t hide from the fact that this is Bangladesh where players play in a league which is not of much high standard. Only one player plays outside. The facilities
and money here are not very
fantastic. So the preparation we take is always of a lower standard than those of the other countries. So we need a little bit luck too.”
However, the Dutch coach expressed his satisfaction over taking the squad to BKSP for a month-long training camp. A total of 23 players out of 25 reported to the team Manager Amirul Islam Babu yesterday with national team captain and midfielder Mamunul Islam, and forward Mithun Chowdhury failing to report in time due to family problem and sickness respectively. Four extra players joined the camp. They are - Atiqur Rahman Farhad (Chittagong Abahani), Aminul Islam Sajib (BJMC), Abdul Malek (Brothers) and Mezbah Uddin (Brothers).
A practice match was held dividing the players in two groups named Red team and Green team. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with Jewel Rana and Yousuf Sifat scoring the goals for their respective side. However, Kruif sounded upbeat after the first training session and had this to say after joining the boys after around four months:
“It’s tough because you always have to face new things. Some things were irritating, like the pitch was not up to the mark. All little things are irritating. I know everybody needs a kick-start and wake up from winter sleep to focus on their mission which is to do well in Korea. We have 45 days to prepare and we need that time because we have to a do lot of work.”
The Dutchman also talked about the formation. “I gave them tactical session inside and I told them something
about the Dutch team. They played with 4-3-3 formation for 100 years and they played with 5-3-2 formation in Brazil. One team played with that formation today and the other team followed 4-4-2 as we will be facing this from 90% of our opponents in Korea. We need to focus on what fits the players the best and we will find our best eleven from there.”
Kruif, however, denied to make any comment regarding Mamunul’s absence yesterday. “I can’t say anything because it’s a private thing of family and I don’t want to step over there. The best situation for me as a coach is when my best players are always on the pitch. Mamun is one of the best players in the country and he is the captain of the senior team. I wish he was on the pitch.”
Kruif also urged the federation to hold more international friendlies. “I have a request to the president and the vice president to take the team outside the country in places like Doha or Thailand, and play one or two or three international games. They promised me to work on it. It is the best when you play in good level.”