Anyone up for Emily's baton?

Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin, during a press conference recently, rued Bangladesh's failure to produced decent enough strikers in recent years.

“I am sorry to say this but I have been seeing the same faces playing for the national team year after year. For instance, (Zahid Hasan) Emily has been playing for so long and we haven't been able to find a replacement for him,” the BFF boss had said while speaking to the national team in front of the media.

The BFF boss's words may sound crude, may even sound naive to some extent; but it is hard to refute the statement.

Every coach who has worked with the Bangladesh national team since 2005 -- that is when the star striker made his International debut -- turned to Emily when picking the national squad. And ten years since, Emily remains the go-to man in the frontline for Bangladesh.

What makes Emily such an indispensable part of the team? Is it because of his sheer quality or the lack of it among the others?

National team's current coach Saiful Bari Titu, who has coached Emily both at club level and in the national team, thinks the reason is a bit of both, and maybe more.

“Emily is a complete striker, a rarity in our current national set-up at the moment. He can play both as a classical centre-forward as well as in playmaking role, which makes him the obvious first choice,” opined the veteran coach.

But there are those who believe that at 28 years of age, Emily neither has the pace nor the physical strength to keep opposition defenders on their toes, reducing him to a mere goal-mouth poacher. This line of thinking gathers more steam from time to time, especially after the veteran forward puts in a nonchalant performance for the Red and Greens, like he did during Bangladesh's 0-3 defeat against Japan U-21s last month. But the fact that, in the last decade, Emily has scored goals in all the calendar years bar one, speaks volumes of his consistency.

Another major criticism about Emily is that most of his recent goals for the national team have come either from the penalty spot or from headers. Titu believes that despite his obvious shortcomings, the consistency with which Emily operates and his role in creating goals apart from scoring is what makes him a favourable option for coaches.

“You see, for quite a short man (5'8”), Emily is very good in the air because he can sustain the jump for quite a while. Apart from that, even when he is not scoring, Emily can play a key role in creating goals for the team,” Titu opined.

In the last three years, a host of young forwards like Wahed Ahmed, Shakhawat Rony, Toklish Ahmed, Aminur Rahman Sajib have burst into the scene. While they have raised the bars of hope with their initial impressions, none of them have been able to sustain that impression with consistent performances, either at club level or with the national team.

Maruful Haque, another widely respected coach of the country, points to a couple of reasons as to why the others have not quite stood up to be counted.

“The main reason is the lack of opportunities for the local strikers, due to the preference of African forwards by the Premier League Clubs. The other reason is, I think, the incomplete learning process that these players go through while playing in the lower tiers. I don't see anyone else at the moment quite like Emily,” Maruful says.

As the new year dawns with a busy schedule for the Bangladesh national team, the possibility of anyone overtaking the mantle of the number-one striker of the national team still seems a far-fetched one.