‘I play to win, not to avoid defeat’
Following a frenetic ascension to the head coach's role of the Bangladesh national football team on an interim basis, Oscar Bruzon met the media at the BFF House on Wednesday, speaking about challenges and expectations at the SAFF Championship as well as his football philosophy. The salient excerpts from that press conference are below:
ON HIS PHILOSOPHY: Usually when you see a game of the national team, you see a team trying not to concede goals, but we're going to change that. I am fully confident and I don't feel pressure. What we're going to do is continue the work that we're doing at the club [Bashundhara Kings]. I have the advantage of having 10 players from the Bashundhara team [in the national team] who totally understand our style and methodology.
If I am here, it's because everyone around me think that things can change. Things may work or may not but at this point, I say it is going to work. I play to win, not to avoid defeat or play defensively. I am here to play the final.
Tactically I am very calm and the players will adjust to the work I have been doing for the last 13 months at our club. We're not losers. We're not coming into the pitch to know how many goals we're going to concede. If we can play high block, we will try to play it. I am not going to be suicidal. In one week, we can't change football. I am not a magician. If we think these changes are automatically going to bring success, we are wrong. But if we think these changes are going to bring determination, confidence and something new to the national team, that is going to happen.
ON THE PLAYERS AT HIS DISPOSAL: We will go with a 4-3-3 formation to give continuity to what we have done at Bashundhara Kings. I feel that the players are going to adjust quickly because some have played against Bashundhara. We're going to challenge them through training sessions.
I feel we're already in the competition period. Physically there's nothing else to work on. Let's see what happens in 50-50 games when we play team ranked higher than us. We're initially going to try a middle block to minimize the risks. For the players, it's about performance.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE and what is required of players: From my side, it's about continuity but that needs to be understood by the players. I have the help of my coaching staff and the manager. From the very first moment the players are going to enjoy. We are going to do lot of exercises with the ball and try to increase the speed of the circulation of the ball because I am a coach who tries to control the game by controlling the ball. Then we can think about working on positioning and other tactical details. But before that we need to settle many things like intensity of the game, circulation of the ball, finishing.
I don't know if Eleta [Kingsley] is going to start, but he's going to be the reference of the team [as a No. 9]. I already have a backup plan of maybe playing with two strikers. I have heard that Bangladesh players can't hold the ball, can't pass and can't play attacking football but that is absolutely false.
HIS TRIBUTE TO JAMIE DAY: I want to start by praising the work done by Jamie Day. He was a colleague and was in touch with me for the past three years, monitoring our players and doing a good job. He ran into some troubles in recent months and maybe results were not as desired. I'm sure he did a good job and tried his best. So for me it's sad to replace a colleague but I totally understood the situation and stepped forward to take responsibility.
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