'Freedom to move' sparks transformation
Bangladesh had faced harsh criticism after poor performances in twin friendlies against an amateur-heavy Seychelles team in March and that negativity continued following a dismal performance against Cambodia in a friendly in June.
Interestingly, the criticism came despite the men in red and green posting two victories. They defeated Seychelles 1-0 before losing by the same scoreline and then beat Cambodia 1-0. But even in victory, Javier Cabrera's team could hardly hold on to the ball, making erratic passes or taking loose touches to cede possession.
Playing a possession-based game appeared a pipe dream given the showings, despite the fact that Cabrera's charges had shown signs of improvement and their fighting character in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in Malaysia last year.
That attitude had gone missing for Bangladesh's next five matches until the team started showing those characteristics afresh in the ongoing SAFF Championship.
Speaking about what made the transformation possible, captain Jamal Bhuiyan said: "We worked on those areas (build-up, attack, maintaining possession) and fine-tuned those things. The players also discussed which style would be suitable for us before sharing it with the coach. We believe the players will get tired if we always play on the counter-attack," said Jamal, who is playing in his fifth SAFF Championship.
"The coach also wants possession and a build-up game, but he prefers counter-attacking football. But we expressed our desire to the coach, believing we would get more chances if we play a possession-based game. And we are doing that now," Jamal continued,
"If you compare our recent performance to the matches against Seychelles, we are more flexible than we were in those games because we had been static in our own positions then. We could not move from our position as per the directives. But this time around, we were given more freedom to move to other places. That's why Bishwanath Ghosh went up front to help Sheikh Morsalin score the third goal."
Goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico echoed Jamal's sentiments about the team's transformation from a gritty defensive team to a build-up-focused unit.
"We have been together for a long time and the coach has been trying to play a build-up game. We tried it against Lebanon but could not do well because of their press. So we were forced to play long balls even though we planned to attack by building up from behind," Zico said, opining that they could not perform well against Seychelles and Cambodia because both teams pressed till the last minute.
Assistant coach Hasan Al Mamun, who has been with Cabrera since the start of the last year, said the Spaniard's plan, methodology and execution had helped Bangladesh put up good performances against Lebanon and Maldives.
"Since Cabrera took over, he was planning to form a squad with a mix of experienced and young players. He placed a lot of emphasis on scouting players over the past 15 months," Hasan said, adding that younger players also had an impact on performance.
"You know there are a lot of young players in the squad such as Isa Faysal, Rafiqul Islam and Morsalin. They are playing their first international tournament while Md Ridoy, Mojibur Rahman Jonny and Mohammad Sohel Rana are also fresh players. If you look at the profile of these players, they have less experience in international matches. It was not easy to come back against Maldives with a team that features players with that sort of profile," Hasan, who was Bangladesh's stand-in captain during the 2003 SAFF Championship triumph, concluded.