Give local players a chance: Ord
Having held Laos to a 2-2 draw in a FIFA friendly on Tuesday, Bangladesh coach Andrew Ord urged local coaches to keep faith on homegrown players and field them in their natural positions during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) matches.
It seemed that the Bangladeshi forwards could hardly hold the ball in the attacking third to create space and expose the Laos defence before Jafar Iqbal and Mahbubur Rahman Sufil scored two excellent goals to secure a draw after Bangladesh had gone 2-0 down due to defensive mistakes in the first half.
“Jafar barely got a chance to come on as substitute this year. Sufil played most of the BPL as a wingback in 3-5-2 system. [Nabib Newaj] Jibon played on the left wing to accommodate Sunday [Chizoba] or Emeka [Darlington] whereas his best position is centre-forward. I am the one playing these guys in their correct positions at a higher level and they showed yesterday that if given a chance they can do the job. It's time for the BPL clubs to trust these players which in turn will benefit the nation,” Ord said through an email interview yesterday.
“We are working with hands tied behind our backs by not giving them a chance to play in attacking positions. Otherwise how can they improve?” questioned Ord, who felt defensive mistakes were inherent among players.
“I can't control individual errors that are of such a basic nature. They are ingrained into the Bangladeshi players and occured regularly at every BPL game I've attended all year,” Ord said. “They are unfortunately going to keep surfacing until we put enough experience into the new group of young players.”
However, the English-born Australian felt the fans should be proud of the way his charges showed fighting spirit to mount a comeback in the match.
“The fighting spirit shown is a direct result of the tough preparation camps we had. The mentality to not give up at 2-0 down was great to see and is a huge step in the right direction. In the second half we looked fitter and stronger and that should give the players more belief and is something to build on.”
The fighting attitude among the young players was first seen during the SAFF U-18 Championship and AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers last year. Bangladesh came back from three goals down to beat India 4-3 and beat Maldives 1-0 with a last moment strike in the SAFF U-18 Championship while the same team beat Uzbekistan 1-0 with a stoppage time strike in the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers.
“We played better throughout the match, but it ended in a draw. The result could have been different had we not conceded two goals due to fumbles. We also came back against India in the age-group tournament where I scored two goals. Actually we were confident about a fight and got the outcome of our hard work,” said Iqbal.
“There were instances of scoring against Maldives and Uzbekistan in the last moment during our age-level tournaments. This time we worked hard for this match and were really fit, which actually kept us in the match and allowed us to fight for 90 minutes at the same pace,” said Sufil, who scored the equaliser in stoppage time.