Day satisfied with draw
Bangladesh national football team coach Jamie Day expressed his satisfaction over how the booters came from behind to pay out a 1-1 draw against Al Mesaimeer Sports Club in Qatar on Wednesday night.
It was the booters' first match under the guidance of Day, following their last international friendly match against Laos on March 27.
Al Habib put Al Mesaimeer SC, a Second Division club of Qatar, ahead by heading in a corner in the 26th minute but Bangladesh's Shakhawat Hossain Rony volleyed a Faisal Mahmud corner home in the 82nd minute to equalise.
Day fielded a different squad in each half in a bid to surmise the player's abilities as the 38-year-old coach has been trying to figure out the right combination ahead of next month's Asian Games in Jakarta and September's SAFF Championship in Dhaka.
“The young players were given priority in the first half before coach Jamie sent the senior footballers out along with a few junior players. Jamie was interested to see the tactical development of his training while the players were eager to play the match following a long training camp, so most of the players were given an opportunity to play the match,” said assistant coach Mashud Kaiser over the phone from Qatar.
Kaiser added that the home team had better ball possession in the match but Bangladesh created more opportunities, one of which they failed to cash in on in the second half. In the first half, defender Tapu Barman headed the ball onto the crossbar while Mahbub Hossain Sufil was denied by the opposition goalkeeper. Masuk Mia Jonny also squandered a chance to equalise early on as he drove the ball wide, despite getting the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation.
“We could have judged the player's fitness if they had the opportunity to play at least 70 minutes. However, Jamie is more interested to find out what mistakes the boys made and work on those areas in coming days,” said Kaiser, adding that Day is overall satisfied with their performance.
Meanwhile, another assistant coach Mahbub Hossain Roxy informed that they want to play a match against a local side in Bangladesh before flying to off to South Korea for two more practice games. In accordance, the Bangladesh Football Federation is trying to arrange the match.
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