Not a gloomy Day

Bangladesh coach Jamie Day has expressed his satisfaction at the effort and organisation of his team despite their 3-0 defeat against Uzbekistan in their opening game of the Asian Games yesterday.

Talking to media after the game, the 38-year-old said there were a few defensive errors, but otherwise it was a good effort against a very strong side.

“For periods of the game we showed fight and created some chances. Our fitness was very good. We were organised. Yes, we should have defended a bit better, but we created our chances,” said the Englishman, who has been in charge of the team for less than eight weeks.

There were passages of play when Bangladesh players looked comfortable; running the ball around and defending with confidence while taking the ball as far forward as they could, but the quick interchange of play in attacks from the Uzbeks extinguished their chances of a comeback following the opening goal.

Day felt his side should have had two penalties though, but had no regrets with losing against a better side.

“We looked nervous in the first 20 minutes but we got organised and created chances. I don't know, the players might say better, but I thought we could have had two penalties which were not given,” he said. “But I'm happy with the desire and effort from our boys. We got beaten by a team who are technically and tactically much better than us.”

Skipper Jamal Bhuiyan, who was a member of the 2014 Asian Games squad too, said they lost against a much better side. “We knew Uzbekistan were the best team in the group. Last time [2014], we didn't have ball possession, no chances, no shape. Four years ago, they were stronger or maybe we were weaker,” the midfielder said.

Bangladesh looked nervous at the start of the game and could have conceded a couple of early goals had it not been for some excellent saves from veteran goalkeeper Ashraful Islam Rana.

Uzbekistan coach Ravshan Khaydarov praised Rana while saying that he wanted his team to dominate possession. “We tried them [Bangladesh] to play without the ball. The goalkeeper was very good and he rescued his team many times,” he said. “But we controlled the rhythm of the game and got the result which we wanted from the game.”