U-16s debacle irks BFF boss

The dismal performance of the U-16 national team in Nepal has forced the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to contemplate whether to send the side to the qualifying round of the AFC U-16 Championship which will be held in Kyrgyzstan in September.
The U-16 side suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat to their Nepalese counterparts in the semifinal which might prompt the game's governing body to rethink sending the side to the AFC meet where they are to meet stronger opponents such as Oman, Qatar and hosts Kyrgyzstan.
In the wake of the debacle, BFF president Kazi Salahuddin has talked with the technical director of BFF and instructed him to find out reasons for the debacle. It has been learnt that the BFF boss is prepared to bear fines for not participating in the AFC tournament rather than see any such debacle in future. Salahuddin also expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the local coaches of the federation who are paid highly.
Ilias Hossain, the team leader of the U-16 team and BFF executive member, tried to defend his side by saying, “Though we protested verbally, Nepal had fielded over-aged player and five of our key players could not recover well after falling sick after their arrival in Nepal.”
Whatever Ilias brings as excuse, there is no denying the fact that the U-16 team did not have enough time to be prepare and the side even had lack of quality booters due to faulty selection procedure.
The U-16 side were given only one month's training which was not even intensive. They did not get to play any warm-up matches. The accommodation for the booters was frequently changed and there was no guaranteed practice ground for them. They had to wait for the start of their training until the other sides had left the field.
More importantly the game's governing body seemingly has no plans with the age-group teams as they assemble the squad ahead of any championship to provide one or two months of training but there is hardly any follow-up afterwards. Besides no specific style of play is groomed among the age-group sides in Bangladesh though neighbouring India and Nepal have been developing their sides with a long-term plan by setting up football academies which are run by the respective federations.