An agonizing wait of 14 years was finally over for Bangladesh on Wednesday after they won 3-1 over Bhutan in Bengaluru. Bangladesh had been aching to make it to the semifinals of the SAFF Championship and the wait was finally over after they won.
The long-awaited victory was achieved under the watchful guidance of Spanish head coach Javier Cabrera. His predecessors, including the Macedonian Nikola Ilievski, the Dutch Lodewijk Kruif, the local Maruful Haque, the English Jamie Day, and the Spanish Oscar Bruzon, were unable to prevent Bangladesh from painfully exiting the tournament from the group stage in the previous five iterations. Javier Cabrera was able to turn things around for Bangladesh.
According to Cabrera, the spot in the semifinals was not “a present” that was given to them but rather a “whole process” that ultimately came to fruition.
“It was not a matter of chance that we made it to the semifinals. Cabrera, speaking after the match, stated that although there is still a long way to go, we need support from everyone, and we need to continue working the same manner.
“It is a component of the overall process that we initiated in January of 2022, and as a result, we are gradually achieving things.”
The Spaniard was not bashful about giving gratitude to the assistant coach, Hasan Al Mamun, for assisting him in the scouting process ever since he arrived.
“A significant amount of effort went into it. The players have a great deal of devotion because they believe in what it is that we are trying to do. There is a significant amount of labor put in by the technical personnel. Together with Hasan Al Mamun, I saw each and every match in the Bangladesh Premier League, the Federation Cup, and the Independence Cup.
We looked through each and every training session to see whether players are able to adapt and have a general understanding of the way that we operate. In addition to that, we added more staff members that offered a high level of quality to the team, and it was successful.
Cabrera spread his admiration around the team, highlighting players who were not in the starting eleven against Bhutan. Naturally, the media has focused the most of their attention on the goal-scorers on the night, who were Sheikh Morsalin and Rakib Hossain.
Rakib has been described as being “on another level” by Cabrera due to his “superior physicality,” and Morsalin gets the feeling that “something’s gonna happen” when the 19-year-old has the ball at his feet in the last third of the field.
Rakib and Morsalin, as the two key players, did an outstanding job today, but other players also contributed significantly to the success of the squad.
“[Foysal Ahmed]” “[Foysal Ahmed]” In the two games that came before this one, Fahim was outstanding. Suman Reza is a monster that can play at any moment and always gives his all for the squad.
The coach of Bangladesh was “very happy” after his team prevailed in a challenging encounter against an opponent who they had predicted would be capable of playing “well on the ball.”
“It goes without saying that I am quite pleased with the outcome. We were prepared for a challenging beginning, and that is exactly what transpired. It was a challenge for [the squad], as they struggled to establish their footing, and they lacked confidence. “We were able to find our game for [up to] four minutes, but after that we were unable to find our rhythm,” stated Cabrera.
“Since we were behind by a goal, we had to claw our way back, and as we did so, the team started becoming better and being more patient with the ball… The second half of the game focused on how to play against time and how to play with the moment of the game. Once we had regained our composure a little bit, we were able to perform considerably better.
We did not expose ourselves to a great deal of danger in order to guarantee that our goals would be met.
Cabrera stated that those who were under his control “will be happier than anyone” as a result of the extended criticism that they had received over the course of several years. The fact that Lebanon and Kuwait were also competing in this year’s SAFF Championship made the task that much more difficult for them than it had been before.
“We were able to become one of the main teams in the SAFF Championship, which included two teams from the Middle East [this edition].” “We were able to become one of the main teams in the SAFF Championship.”
“[I’m] happy for the players and the team because of the many criticisms and arguments [they faced], so the players will be happier than anyone,” Cabrera said. “[I’m] happy for the players and the team because of the many critics and arguments [they faced].”