‘Win against Kings not a fluke’
Before the start of the 12th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in the middle of January, prediction from most coaches was that a tough league was ahead of them. And after the end of the seventh round of matches, the 13-team BPL table is reflecting the forecast, with half the teams in title race with a difference of only three points among them.
After the sixth-round matches of last season, only three teams – Bashundhara Kings, Abahani and Sheikh Russel KC – remained in the title race with 16, 15 and 14 points respectively. However, this time around Chattogram Abahani have completely changed the scenario by taming all four former champions including holders Bashundara Kings, whom they handed a 4-3 defeat despite conceding a 3-0 lead in Nilphamari on Sunday.
Chattogram Abahani coach Maruful Haque believes the fightback was not a fluke, instead they deserved to win the match.
"This team (Chattogram Abahani) has so much depth, and it was not a fluke as it happened frequently with us," said the country's lone UEFA A licenced coach yesterday.
"The players are being prepared that way for the rest of the season even though coaching method is not always everything. The players have to play an important role and all the credit goes to them, who put up such a never-say-die attitude in the match," said Maruful, who guided Sheikh Russel KC to a rare treble in the 2012-13 season.
"When I work at any club, I also work with the players' mental strength and approach apart from the physical and technical aspects," added Maruful.
Describing the match against Bashundhara Kings, Maruful said, "We were not in a situation to concede two goals, especially with the way we played and created more chances than Bashundhara. I usually bring tactical changes or brief players about tactical aspects during intervals if needed, but yesterday [Sunday], I just told them that they had good depth to deal with the situation and that they needed to apply things they do in practice. I told them they could even score four goals."
Beating six-time champions Abahani 2-0 in the previous match might have played a big role in boosting Chattogram Abahani, but Maruful believes the motivation lay on their target of winning all trophies.
"We are hopeful that we can stay in the race and the gap in points between the top teams will be further less as the league progresses," the coach said.
Bashundhara Kings coach Oscar Bruzon is also optimistic about staying in the title race despite back-to-back defeats against Mohammedan and Chattogram Abahani.
Bruzon said that the loss against Chattogram Abahani was a result of playing a number of games, injury problems and poor performances from the substitute players.
"[it was] an accumulation of games and injuries, poor performance from the substitute players, a collapse in midfield after the small knee problem to Baktyiar (Duyshobekov). And in general, we are badly missing players like Emon Babu, Sushanto Tripura, Mashuk Mia Zony, Matin Mia [who are nursing injuries] and Hernan Barcos [not eligible for the first phase of BPL]."
"Currently the team is lacking a striker and suffering from hectic schedule from the end of 2019. The team is much better than the last two results suggest," said Bruzon.
"We hope the five key players recover quickly so that the team will get a big benefit," concluded the Spaniard.
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