Bangladesh football head coach Lodewijk de Kruif urged for making more space for the national U-23 players in the club teams and grow them capable of handling the future challenges.
“How can you expect these players to perform at the top level when they have not played any 90 minute match in the last one year, the first two matches were as expected. Syria and Uzbekistan were way ahead of us but in the last match we were a little bit better. In the second half or in the last 20 minutes we dominated with Sohel Rana and Toklis coming close to a strike but I admit I lacked a quality striker,” said the Dutch after Bangladesh’s goalless draw with India in their last AFC U-23 qualifiers Group E match.
“All the positions of strikers in the Bangladesh Premier Football league clubs are occupied by foreigners, how cane they develop? These Under-23 boys must play at least 25 matches in the league, they have to lay more international matches and they need proper guidance to be prepared for the future,” he said.
The Dutch expressed his disappointment in simple words. “Finishing at the bottom of the group is not desired by any coach, I am satisfied with the last match but overall I am not happy.”
However, his counterpart Savio Medeira was more content with the outcome from his charges. Both Bangladesh and India crashed out of the qualifiers with one point each.
“This tournament showed where we and the South Asian football stand, we need very good grass root level programmes with efficient coaches. My team played the first two matches at 3pm and that swapped all the energy out of my boys. I told not to give up in the last match and they fought till the end. With just 12 days of preparation I can’t ask more from them and I happy with my team,” said Medeira.