Kings of Bashundhara After his team lost 1-0 to the home side in the Group D final match at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India, on Monday, Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon urged the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to examine the match between Bashundhara Kings and Odisha FC.
“For the sake of football, I cannot conduct a technical analysis of the game.” The AFC must look into what transpired with Bangladesh teams during the AFC Cup. We have filed a complaint about the referee trying to stop us in advance during our last home game. It’s great that our players displayed correct resilience. “They came back,” Bruzon said at the post-game press conference.
“But today, I repeat, the AFC must look into what happened with the referees for the sake of football.” There are two options: one is an economic explanation, and the other is a direct instruction. So, this is my analysis of the game, and I don’t want to add anything else,” Bruzon remarked before leaving the podium without answering any media questions.
With only a single point needed to advance, the Bangladesh Premier League champions were on the verge of making history by becoming the second Bangladeshi team after Abahani to reach the competition’s inter-zonal semifinals. The four-time champions, on the other hand, were forced to withdraw from the competition.
In first-half stoppage time, Vietnam referee Ngo Duy Lan gave a marching order to Kings’ Uzbekistan midfielder Asror Gafurov for a behind-the-back tackle on Odisha’s Ahmed Jahouh in the middle.
Gafurov sobbed on the ground, constantly yelling “why?” Bruzon was also arrested for his protest, which questioned the referee’s decision to dismiss Gafurov.
It’s worth noting that Odisha striker Mawihmingthanga pushed Gofurov shortly after the foul was made, but the referee didn’t book him.
During the 2021 AFC Cup, Kings required a win over ATK Mohun Bagan in the last group match to advance to the knockout stage. The Bangladesh champions led in the first half, but they couldn’t hold on in the second, especially after defender Sushanta Tripura was sent off in the first half’s stoppage time. After a 1-1 draw, Mohun Bagan advanced to the inter-zonal play-off semifinals as Group D champions.