Day happy with win in ‘pre-season game’

As soon as the official post-match press conference following Bangladesh's 2-0 victory against Nepal last night ended, the Bangladesh team's media manager relayed to the journalists an announcement that the National Teams Committee would reward the team with Tk 10 lakh for winning the match.

The victory meant much to the governing body of the federation, who have recently been re-elected and have been desperate for success at the international stage for some time.

The win will also provide respite to the men in red and green, who ended a five-year winless streak against Nepal, with the balance of power tilting towards the Himalayan nation in recent times.

Although Bangladesh coach Jamie Day was pleased with the result, he found areas for improvement.

"I'm very pleased with the win and that we killed the game from a counter-attack even though we could have scored more in the first half. I'm also happy that there were no serious injuries," the 41-year-old said.

"However, I'm not getting carried away. Nepal played better than us in the second half, they had more possession and controlled the game better," the coach said as Bangladesh hardly matched their first-half performance on the other side of the break against a Nepal side which had been decimated by Covid-19.

The coach attributed the lack of control in the second-half to a long break as the national team players were out of competitive football since mid-March due to the pandemic.

"This is just a pre-season game for me and there will be greater competition coming up, so we need to get better," the coach said, referring to the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Qatar next month and the remaining qualifiers next year.

Nepal coach Bal Gopal Maharjan, meanwhile, felt they could have done better if he had a full-strength side, with proper training, at his disposal.