Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club head coach Maruful Haque yesterday expressed his satisfaction with his charges’ performance against Busan IPark in the international friendly at Bangabandhu National Stadium, apart from the first five minutes when the home side shipped two goals. His counterpart, Yoon Sung-hyo on the other hand said although he is satisfied with the 2-0 victory, the scoreline should have been more convincing.
Following the conclusion of the friendly, Maruf admitted that his plans of creating some early pressure backfired.
“We thought of putting all-out pressure in the opening minutes but it misfired. They scored two goals in the span of five minutes. The positioning of my players were not right as the Koreans found the gaps and utilised it. Overall, they breached our backline thrice – scoring two and hitting the post once. We threatened them but lacked clinical finishing. I needed clinical finishers.”
Maruf also informed that his two attacking spearheads – Wedson Anselme and Emeka Darlington – lacked the ideal understanding.
“I need to work more on the duo. In this match Emeka and Wedson lacked the required understanding. It (their understanding) was an eye-opener ahead of the domestic league.”
Maruf also believes that the K-League outfit and the Japan Under-21 team, who visited Dhaka two weeks ago, are almost on the same level.
“Both play in the same style and the Korean team are more convenient on the wings. They (Busan) are also efficient in midfield. Busan IPark have some world-class players with quick movements and intelligence.”
Meanwhile, Yoon said he is quite elated with the outcome of the match. “We expected to score quick goals and we did that but we thought of adding more and could not do it. The team did not play as per my expectations.”
“Maybe the pitch appeared too hard for us. The team expected a better pitch. However, the weather was in our favour and we were not bothered by Jamal’s onslaughts.”
Yoon praised the opponents but thinks the Bangladesh Premier League champions require more improvements.
