Head coach Javier Cabrera of the Bangladesh national football team said that the squad will hope to sustain the success of the SAFF Championship in the future fixtures this year.
The team is slated to compete in a number of assignments this year.
The Spaniard, who guided Bangladesh to a first semifinal in the regional tournament for the first time in 14 years only to lose the fight against Kuwait in extra time, said he was upset with the ultimate result but pleased of the performance from the charges. This was the first time Bangladesh had made it to the semifinals of the regional event in 14 years.
“What we’ve seen so far has more than met our expectations. We have seen consistency, which is the primary concern that we focus on at all times. We usually have strong performances in the first one or two games in a series, but by the third or fourth game, we usually start to struggle. This time around, we have been successful in all five of our consecutive games. “We have to keep this, we have to maintain this level in the next months,” the coach, who is 38 years old and works for Bangladesh Football Federation, told reporters today after meeting with Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin at his office.
The Spaniard said that Salahuddin shared his viewpoint, despite the fact that the most of their conversation was on looking forward rather than backward in time.
The first round of qualifying for the World Cup is set to take place in October for Bangladesh, while the Asian Games are slated to take place in September. Additionally, there is a FIFA window in the month of November, and Bangladesh would want to take advantage of it.
“Salahuddin has, from the beginning, shown a great deal of support for us. He is really pleased with the performance of the group, but the focus should be on the future. “The meeting was more about SAFF than it was about how we could continue and how we are going to prepare for the rest of the year,” said Cabrera. “It was more about SAFF than it was about how we could continue.”
Cabrera was also of the opinion that the comeback victory over Maldives, in which Bangladesh trailed by a goal before coming back to win 3-1, was the defining moment for his team throughout the competition.
Cabrera was of the opinion that the match in the Maldives was the one that most likely determined the outcome of the situation. “We knew that we had to win that match; if we hadn’t won against Maldives, things would have been very, very different. If we didn’t win that match, things would have been very, very different. That match undoubtedly proved to be the turning point in everything. The group had a really positive mental outlook.”
The Spaniard was also of the opinion that his squad should have been awarded more points for the devastating loss to Kuwait in the semifinals after extra time.
“The performance in the game against Kuwait was really great. After ninety minutes of play, the score against a very good squad was 0-0. I’m not upset. We are of the opinion that we were capable of winning the championship. It was a match that was completely even, perhaps possibly we deserved to win more. I’m not angry, but I am disappointed. But I’m proud,” Cabrera ended.