The Dutch coach of Bangladesh national football team, Lodewijk de Kruif expressed concealed optimism but at the same time tried to be realistic about his expectations in the Saff Championship campaign while speaking at the official press conference held at the BFF House yesterday.
The Dutch man, keeping the expectations low, said: “We are outsiders along with Pakistan. The favourites are India. They are well-organised, and spend a lot of money. Nepal are playing at their home, so they are strong too. Don’t mix it up thinking I don’t want to win. I’m a sportsman, I always like to win. Everybody in the team, in the BFF board worked very hard. Hopefully we will succeed in Nepal.”
“We will do our best. We have very talented players, a talented team. We want to fight for the country. We don’t want to disappoint anyone so we will give everything we can,” he said.
“I’m not going to talk about securing a place in the final or semi-final or whatever. Of course, as sportsmen, we are going there to win our games,” he added.
However, he was confident with the preparations: “We worked very hard for almost eight or nine weeks. We faced troubles and we faced good things. But at the end of the day everybody in and around the team are supporting our players and they are giving the best. We did a strong and tough selection. I took my time to make the final squad. There were several reasons, most importantly, we are still facing injury problems,” de Kruif said.
Explaining why he took time to shape the final squad, Kruif said: “The captain suffered an injury in the last match. That is why I like to keep my squad as big as possible. Last week we had six injuries, but all of them have now recovered.”
We came to know that there will only be 20 players in the squad instead of 22, just three weeks ago. That is also an issue. Now we have to use players, who can play in several positions.
Meanwhile, skipper Mamunul Islam said he was hopeful of being fit before the first match against Nepal: “Two days ago things were bad as I got injured and there was a lot of pain. I thought I may not go. But after two days rest I am feeling fine. The team and the coaches supported me. MRI, CT scan revealed nothing serious. I will be going to Nepal.”
