Bangladesh coach Oscar Bruzon blamed fatigue of his players for their first defeat in the ongoing SAFF Championship against hosts Maldives on Thursday.
Bangladesh made a good start beating Sri Lanka before earning a point against strong India but lost by 2-0 in their third match to lessen their chances of reaching the final drastically.
Bruzon hailed Maldives for their performance but also said his charges were tired as they played their third game in six days.
“Maldives were better than us today. None of our tries worked. I thought boys would make good fight for 90 minutes but the main difference was energy. Maldives were in much better position than us in this regard,” said Bruzon after the match.
“We had to play a game in every 72 hours. We were giving good fight in first 50 minutes and it was 50-50 till then. But we had no answer to their attack in the second half. We did not get even a day and a half of rest in last 14 days. Boys were tired in the practice session, “added the coach.
Bruzon said he tried to bring the parity in the second half after Maldives’ opening goal by making some substitutions but they were unable to match with the speed of Maldives.
However, the Spaniard is still upbeat about the chances of Bangladesh reaching the final. Currently the men in red and green have four points from three games and in their final group match against Nepal they must win and also have to hope about favourable results in other matches.
“Our next match is on 13th October. We will come back fresh in that match. I hope the energy we lacked today will be replenished against Nepal. We still have chances to reach the final,” expressed the confident coach.
