Ilievski happy with his teams
Head coach Nikola Ilievski expressed his satisfaction over the performance of both national team and the U19s as the seniors won the latest practice matches over the juniors at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The Macedonian coach, who has been in charge of the national side for the last four months, said he was pleased with the 'seriousness and purpose' shown by the national players.
“The second match between the A sides was a good match. The national team played with seriousness and played with purpose today (Saturday),” said the Macedonian who had earlier expressed his dissatisfaction over the lacklustre attitude of a few of the players during the practice matches.
Ilievski, who has also been overseeing the U-19 training camp for a month ahead of this month's AFC U-19 Qualifiers at home, expected good results from the side in the qualifying campaign where Bangladesh will face Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq in a strong group.
“I am optimistic. Though I know, Saudis are strong favourites and Oman and Iraq are also very good sides, our boys can put up a good fight,” said Ilievski.
Ilievski singled out a few of the U-19 players like Emon Babu, Malek, Mubarak, Rana as very good prospects and with a realistic chance of making it to the national side soon.
In the second of the two practice matches, the A side of the national team came from a goal down to beat the A side of the U-19s. The juniors applied pressure in the 35-minute first half and took a deserving lead in the 18th minute through a long-range effort from Wahed Ahmed. However, the seniors hit back seven minutes later as veteran Mohammad Sujan converted an expert penalty kick. The seniors dominated the second half and confirmed the winning goal in the 65th minute. It was an own goal that came from the head of a juniors' defender who under pressure headed the ball into his own net.
In the first match, National B Team won comfortably by 5-1 against U-19 B team, courtesy of a brace from Biplob and one apiece from Sohel Rana, Mobarak and Jewel Rana. Sajib scored the only goal for the juniors.
There will be another bout of practice matches played on October 19th before the coach takes over the national team's camp in BKSP the following day.
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