National head coach Lodewijk de Kruif at last responded to his player’s plea to reduce the work load in order to recharge ahead of the final challenges in the practice session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The Dutch coach was visibly angry with his players after their rusty performance in a 2-1 win over a select XI on Tuesday. “It was a very difficult match and almost everything went wrong and it was very difficult situation for a coach where to start. I can tell them about 150 things that went wrong. What they told me today that they were very tired and that was the reason they could not put 100% and maybe it was 50%. And for me, I have to live with that and as coach I have to take the steps to make them fit in their body and in their mind. When we are preparing hard, they played a terrible match. We talked about it. The training was very good today and the players promised us and the nation that it would not happen again,” said de Kruif.
The Dutch coach thought the players need some rest. “The players are tired and we have to give them more rest, more video session and theory sessions. That’s the way you recharge your players. When I came to the country, the physical conditioning of the players was not very good - that’s why we trained very hard. May be that’s the reason behind their tiredness. There is no worry as there is way to recharge the players. On Tuesday, it was very disappointing but I am happy and satisfied after today’s training,” he said.
Lodewijk de Kruif cleared his stance about his sudden departure to Holland from Nepal. “There was no vacation at all. I went to meet my family and I want to settle the accommodation as BFF promised me. BFF said to me ‘Ok coach, you can bring you wife on first of July’, but there was nothing. Then 15 July, still there was nothing. Then end of July, there was nothing. Then I told the president, ‘Listen, we can’t work like this’. Everybody knows I have a wife and child. I heard from Rene that the apartment is still not arranged. That’s why I couldn’t bring my family. Now I hope Rene will bring my family and settle the issue,” he explained.
De Kruif said that Denmark based Jamal Bhuiyan is coming today or tomorrow. “His absence is hampering the camp because he is a very important player. He has come out of nothing and proved himself.”
The Dutch head coach expressed anger over former national coach Saiful Bari Titu’s comments. “Some kind of a Mohammedan coach commented about something yesterday. It is very disappointing for me because the guy doesn’t know anything about what we are doing. I am very irritated when someone attacks my team and national coaching staff,” said de Kruif.
