Another sorry exit
As the Bangladesh Football Federation yesterday disposed of the national team's 18th foreign coach Fabio Lopez only two-and-a-half months into his contract, one cannot help but feel a little let down by the wisdom of BFF's decisions regarding both his appointment and termination.
The firing of a national coach before the expiry of contract is quite common in football world and more so in Bangladesh, where many of the former coaches faced the same fate while some even left amidst more controversy. However, Lopez, who came to Bangladesh having previously coached two mediocre club sides in Indonesia and Maldives, may feel a little aggrieved by the alarming swiftness with which he was sacked.
The Italian was given a four-month contract in September, which should have completed by the end of the SAFF Championship in December and it was hinted that these four months would be a trial period for Lopez. It is believed that there wasn't much background research by the BFF regarding the Italian as the game's governing body was rather in a hurry to get rid of previous coach Lodewijk de Kruif, whose 26-month reign had become tumultuous towards the end.
Hence Lopez, who is believed to be a defensive coach in his football philosophy, set his sights on experimentation. With an emphasis on fitness, the Italian tinkered with the squad and brought some major positional changes to key players. Even after two heavy defeats in the World Cup qualifying recently following a praiseworthy performance against Kyrgyzstan in his first competitive match, the coach kept on experimenting as the team made a group-stage exit from the ongoing invitational tournament in China.
But the Italian was working on the presumption that he would be there till the SAFF Championship to show his results and was given a free reign to that effect. He certainly didn't see the axe falling so soon. While his appointment was a myopic step by BFF, his sacking will completely wipe out two months of work, with the new coach having to start from the scratch.
That new coach is Maruful Haque, with Gonzalo Moreno – someone who is yet to prove anything in Bangladesh -- as his deputy. Even though Maruful has vast experience of working with the current Bangladesh players at club level, and a healthy CV to show for, it will be an entirely different ball-game for him to lead the side to the SAFF Championship with only three weeks of preparation, a world of expectation and a job hanging on the balance.
Comments