After the men in red and green secured their spot in the World Cup Qualifiers for the third year in a row with a 2-1 win over Maldives in the second leg of the preliminary round on Tuesday, former Bangladesh national team star forward Alfaz Ahmed wants national players to demonstrate an attitude comparable to the one they had yesterday in all of their future matches. This comes after the victory over Maldives in the second leg of the preliminary round.
With a combined score of 1-0 victory over Laos, Bangladesh qualified for the World Cup Qualifiers of the previous edition. However, due to their higher FIFA ranking, Bangladesh were given an automatic berth in the World Cup Qualifiers of the 2014 edition. They were up against a formidable opponent in Maldives this time around, a team that is ranked 34 places higher than Bangladesh in the FIFA standings and that had a winning record against Bangladesh in recent history.
After watching the game, it was clear to me that the players were in a difficult position, and they appeared determined to find a solution to the problem. There was an overwhelming amount of effort and dedication to do something beneficial for the country. The players’ collective mindset was, “We have to win the match,” and they spoke about it frequently. I mean, their mentality had changed from the way it had been in the past, which was the thing that impressed me the most, as Alfaz Ahmed explained to The Daily Star today.
The head coach of Mohammedan SC, Alfaz, was of the opinion that the players had demonstrated that they are capable of achieving their goals.
“The players demonstrated that they are capable of doing it by scoring goals, allowing goals to be scored against them, misfiring, fighting back, passing, crossing, attacking, defending, and displaying goalkeeping skills throughout the encounter. According to Alfaz, who was a member of the Bangladeshi team that won the SAFF Championship in 2003, everything was up for grabs for Bangladesh.
The former forward, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the players must continue to demonstrate their reliability in upcoming matches. Only then will the fans be able to rally behind the squad and find entertainment in watching Bangladesh’s game.
If the players are unable to keep up these levels of performance and remain consistent, then all of their hard work would have been in vain. I also believe that the guys on the national team have been making progress recently. “Everyone will be entertained watching Bangladesh matches in the future if they can maintain this type of game,” said Alfaz. “If they can maintain this type of game.”
“The most significant factor was the full-house crowd which proved that there is still love towards football,” said the journalist.
When asked how Bangladesh can make the most of the World Cup Qualifiers against Australia, Lebanon, and Palestine, Alfaz shared his opinion that Bangladesh can use those qualifying matches as opportunities to experiment with new players in advance of the next SAFF Championships.
“Since players like Tapu and Morsalin are not absolutely necessary for the national team, I believe that the head coach ought to try out some new players by providing them more playing time in those international matches. Considering that our primary objective is to win the SAFF Championship, I believe that the coach should do this.
Because some of the players are getting close to the end of their careers, and the coach needs to locate their replacements through such international matches, we have the opportunity to conduct some experiments during these matches by sending in fresh players. “If he can do it, the new players will get valuable international experience in high intense battles and be more matured and experienced in the near future,” opined Alfaz, implying that we have almost no chance of winning against the strong opponents in the World Cup and that the coach can take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen the national team.