Booters fail to impress

The Bangladesh national football team recorded an unimpressive 2-1 win over BFF XI in a practice match at the Bagabandhu National Stadium yesterday, thanks to two penalty kick conversions in either half.
The national side took the lead in the eight minute through Zahid Hossain's penalty kick, which was cancelled in the 25th minute by BFF XI's Aminur Rahman Sajib. Left-back Wali Faisal converted another spot-kick in the 68th minute to save the blushes of the national team.
The national team looked disjointed, made a number of defensive mistakes and were lucky enough to come out with a win. Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif, who joined the camp after enjoying an eight-day vacation, continued to experiment with his best eleven and was forced to bring six changes during the match. He played Atiqur Rahman Meshu in two different positions during the game -- as stopper-back in the first half and as midfielder in the second.
The charges of De Kruif enjoyed lion's share of possession against a side which came into the match without a single day's preparation, but failed to make much penetration. On the contrary, the defence, which was marshaled by Nasir Chowdhury, Atiqur Rahman Meshu, Wali Faisal and Linkon, was exposed time and again. However, the scenario changed slightly in the second half after five changes, including three defenders, was made which gave the national team the control.
Six weeks into the preparation and seventeen days to the start of the SAFF Championship, the display hardly pleased the national coach. Even though neither De Kruif nor his assistant Rene Koster talked after the match, it was evident from the body language of the head coach that he was not at all happy. De Kruif expressed his anger with the players and his coaching staff during the interval.
Local coach Saiful Bari Titu said the unimpressive performance of the national team could have been attributed to the fact that they only had muscle-training leading up to the match, not training for a competitive match. Titu also believes the absence of De Kruif might have had an impact on the players' performance.