Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) President Kazi Salahuddin summoned on last Saturday national football team coach Jamie Day and his assistant Stuart Watkiss to know the reason behind the team’s loss to Nepal in the tri-nation tournament final.
Bangladesh lost to hosts Nepal by 1-2 goals in the final at the Dasharath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu on March 29. Salahuddin had a talk with the two English coaches at the BFF House where national team’s committee Chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed was also present.
“We had hopes to be champions, anyhow, it didn’t happen. We discussed with the coaches about what the issues were, how we can overcome those problems in the future,” Salahuddin said after the meeting.
Salahuddin also said that if Day fails to fulfill their expectation they are ready to think about an alternative.
“Thinking about alternatives is normal in football if anyone fails to deliver. We all are thinking about alternatives,” said the BFF president.
Day declared before the start of the tournament that his main target in Nepal would be not to win the title but to try out a number of young players for Bangladesh’s remaining three matches in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in Qatar in June.
Day also said that he is overall happy with his charges display in the Nepal tri-nation despite losing the opportunity to win the country’s first international trophy in men’s football in almost 18 years. On the other hand, Salahuddin, football organisers and players were eager to win the trophy.
In the tournament’s first league-stage, Bangladesh won against Kyrgyzstan Under-23 team owing to an own goal from the Kyrgyz side and played a goalless draw in the next game against Nepal.
Nepal also drew against Kyrgyzstan U-23 side 0-0 but won in the all-important final.
