Booters look for fresh start

“One, two, three, four, five…twenty, hurray. Let's do it again,” exclaimed Spanish coach Ganzalo Sanchez Moreno to his charges during Bangladesh's practice session at the Maligaon Railway Station ground yesterday, ahead of the defending champions' first football match of the 12th South Asian Games against Bhutan today.

Moreno congratulated his charges after the players, having made a circle on the centre of the ground, completed 20 successful single-touch passes. It is quite understandable that there is no alternative but to have better ball possession if the Spanish coach is to get the desired results against Bhutan at the SAI Sports Complex ground when the match will get underway at 2:30pm BST.

There were a lot of missed passes in the recent performance of the footballers, which kept them on the back foot. Moreno therefore wants his charges to play all SA Games matches with maximum ball possession and with precise passing.

“Play natural football and control the match with maximum possession. No need to hurry, no need to play the long ball and don't lose the ball within two to three seconds. Instead, hold the ball and penetrate the opponents in the planned way,” Moreno told reporters after conducting a one-and-a-half hour training which also saw the Spanish coach place much importance on set-pieces with some variations to master the shots around the danger zone.

Having put in the hard yards under the coach's guidance, the onus is now on the players to put on a performance that will help them forget their dismal showings in the recently concluded SAFF Suzuki Cup and Bangabadhu Gold Cup. The players appeared cheerful in training and had a meeting among themselves without the coaches and officials afterwards.

Moreno is likely to choose the 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation with the backline to be marshalled by captain Rezaul Karim, Yeasin Khan, Raihan Hasan and either Tapu Barman or Shakil Ahmed while Jamal Bhuiyan and Atiqur Rahman Fahad are likely to play the key role in the midfield keeping Sohel Rana and one of Masuk Mia Jony or Rubel Mia in two flanks. Nabib Newaj Jibon and Hemanta Vincent Biswas will be up front.

Nepal, the Bangabandhu Gold Cup champions, made the task easy for Bangladesh after handing Bhutan a massive 5-0 defeat in the Group B opener, which  means that Bangladesh just need one win out of two matches to ensure a semifinal berth.

“Nepal will take the match as a final following their defeat, but our players are focused on the match as our first target is to ensure a semifinal place by beating Bhutan,” said Moreno, adding that his side are more balanced with the inclusion of nine national players after the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Bangladesh.