Deflated booters try  to stay cheerful

National team's veteran midfielder Sohel Rana, who turned 28 yesterday, was at the centre of his team's attention following a two-hour training session at the Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

The Bashundhara Kings midfielder ran across the pitch and tried to lock himself inside the gallery, but to no avail. 

The likes of Mashuk Mia Jonny, Atiqur Rahman Fahad, Rakib Hossain and Bishwanath Ghosh eventually rounded him up from the other end of the gallery before pounding Sohel with flour and eggs.

It was a bit of a comic relief, in a sense, for a team which was coming off a demoralising 2-0 loss against Maldives on Thursday.

Bangladesh had just recently ended their 18-year winless streak against Maldives in last year's Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy. So a 2-0 defeat was certainly a step backwards for the men in red and green, under the tutelage of new coach Javier Cabrera.

The team's young defender Yeasin Arafat admitted that the defeat was not expected and was a disappointing one.

"We went there with the aim of a victory. So, the defeat was indeed deflating. We didn't play as a unit in that match," Yeasin said.

Yeasin did not lay the blame on any particular player or even the coach, saying that they have been following the same style of football in the transition since the departure of Jamie Day last year.

"The tactics and style of football and training intensity was quite similar, so it was our fault that we could not apply ourselves on the pitch.

The team's most veteran forward, Nabib Newaz Jibon, made a comeback after a long injury layoff. Jibon did not get any scoring opportunity but one or two chances went begging for the team while there were defensive lapses which gave away the goals to Maldives. The Abahani forward feels the match against Mongolia is a chance to rectify those errors.

"We obviously made mistakes in the Maldives game. The coach has pointed out our mistakes and briefed us on the next match's opposition," Jibon said.

"Even though we don't know much about Mongolia, we feel that we will have a chance to redeem ourselves with the crowd behind us. A win is sorely needed for our football," Jibon added.

Bangladesh, ranked 186th, have only played 184th-ranked Mongolia twice, both in 2001. One of those matches ended in a draw while the other one ended in a Bangladesh victory by a three-goal margin.