Disappointed Ord urges youth development
Having completed the AFC U-23 Champion-ship Qualifiers campaign with three defeats in as many matches, head coach Andrew Ord said Bangladesh are not anywhere near competitive level in international football and need to focus on youth development immediately.
The Australian coach made the statement after completing his first assignment in Palestine where the team conceded 13 goals and struck only once. Most of the goals Bangladesh conceded were due to mistakes of either the defenders or the goalkeeper.
“Unfortunately I would have to say at the moment Bangladesh is not anywhere near competitive at this level,” Ord said in an interview by the Bangladesh Football Federation.
“The first match we were beaten mentally before we even kicked a ball due to previous results. Against Tajikistan it really showed giving 100% is not enough to get you over the line if you are not in professional physical condition.
“Lastly the improvements to the Palestine game were huge but two goals were conceded from set pieces after we had dedicated a lot of training time to this area. Concentration and having the responsibility to do a job for the team are normal in international football but it's a demand that has never been placed on our players before,” Ord said, summarising the disappointing campaign.
The 37-year-old coach was apparently furious about the physical condition and the losing mentality of the players.
“It is not the federation's job to get the players fit. As a national team coach you need to prepare your team tactically in a short space of time not focus on players' ability to play 90 minutes. The way the players are training and the professionalism they are exposed to is nowhere near acceptable and until we fix this, we will never be able to compete against strong opponents,” Ord said.
“Even if we fix the physical and mental part of the game we can see from the games that under pressure technically bad habits get exposed and this can only truly be fixed by focusing properly in youth development which is a long term plan that needs to start immediately,” opined the coach.
Ord also gave importance on having good number of footballers with basic skills.
“The pool of players is far too small. We need to put time, effort and resources into developing players properly which will not only improve the national team but make the clubs stronger then you get into a cycle that will benefit everyone.
“I think the players have a good attitude and want to learn. I also saw that they will give their best if you ask them. That is a good starting point if we can get things correct,” concluded Ord, who is likely to act as an adviser to the Bangladesh U-19 team for the upcoming SAFF U-19 Championship and the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers.
The team is scheduled to return today.
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