Bangladesh football on a bumpy road in 2015

2015 began on a somewhat positive note with the Bangladesh national team emerging runners-up at the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Tournament but ended on a disastrous note with the team being eliminated from group stage of SAFF Championship. The year was a mixed bag for the national (men’s) team but threw up some success in the international arena for the girls’ and club teams.
For the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), they were successful in organising participation of national teams (men and women) in international competitions. It was a packed calendar in January, February, May, June, August, September, October, November and December with plenty of international matches both at home and abroad, although for the most part, the federation had bitter experience with the results.
Also, BFF could not keep up with all of their domestic commitments in that they failed to organise the Independence Cup and Super Cup although they managed to hold the Bangladesh Premier League, Pioneer Football League and school football tournament as per schedule.
At the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Tournament, the Bangladesh national team suffered a 3-2 defeat, conceding a last-minute goal to Malaysia on February 8. After the Bangabandhu Cup, the National under-23 team did not show any prospects despite playing on home ground as they were defeated by Syria and Uzbekistan (0:4) and managed a 0-0 draw with India in the AFC under-23 qualifying competition. In May, the national team played a FIFA International friendly against Singapore in Dhaka only to be defeated by the latter (1-2).
The real test started on June 11 with World Cup qualification matches where Bangladesh was part of Group E comprising five times’ World Cup winners Australia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. However, Bangladesh lost to Kyrgyzstan on June 11 (3-1) and managed a draw with Tajikistan on June 16 in Dhaka. They lost to Kyrgyz at Bishkek (2-0) and to Tajikistan at Dushanbe (5-0) on November 12, while Jordan inflicted defeat (4-0) on them at Dhaka on September 4. Further, the country suffered a 5-0 defeat in Perth and 4:0 in Dhaka against Australia on August 3 and November 17, respectively.
The biggest blow came in the form of ouster from the most coveted SAFF Championship after a woeful 4-0 defeat to Afghanistan and 3-1 defeat to Maldives. In fact, the team’s extremely poor performance forced BFF to introduce massive changes although many would say BFF too was responsible for the way the team played. Apparently, the federation never bothered to prepare or train the national team or inculcate the right spirit in them. They kept changing coaches after every failure which might have prevented players from giving their best to the game. Even Italian coach, Fabio Lopez, who himself lasted only a few weeks, changed players’ positions and dropped a number of key players from the national team.
Meanwhile, victories including that of Bangladesh under-16 team in SAFF under-16 Championship, Bangladesh Women’s team in AFC under-14 Regional Championship, and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in AFC Cup final round proved the silver lining in an otherwise not-so-good year for Bangladesh football.

Bangladesh football on a bumpy road in 2015

2015 began on a somewhat positive note with the Bangladesh national team emerging runners-up at the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Tournament but ended on a disastrous note with the team being eliminated from group stage of SAFF Championship. The year was a mixed bag for the national (mens) team but threw up some success in the international arena for the girls and club teams. For the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), they were successful in organising participation of national teams (men and women) in international competitions. It was a packed calendar in January, February, May, June, August, September, October, November and December with plenty of international matches both at home and abroad, although for the most part, the federation had bitter experience with the results. Also, BFF could not keep up with all of their domestic commitments in that they failed to organise the Independence Cup and Super Cup although they managed to hold the Bangladesh Premier League, Pioneer Football League and school football tournament as per schedule. At the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Tournament, the Bangladesh national team suffered a 3-2 defeat, conceding a last-minute goal to Malaysia on February 8. After the Bangabandhu Cup, the National under-23 team did not show any prospects despite playing on home ground as they were defeated by Syria and Uzbekistan (0:4) and managed a 0-0 draw with India in the AFC under-23 qualifying competition. In May, the national team played a FIFA International friendly against Singapore in Dhaka only to be defeated by the latter (1-2). The real test started on June 11 with World Cup qualification matches where Bangladesh was part of Group E comprising five times World Cup winners Australia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. However, Bangladesh lost to Kyrgyzstan on June 11 (3-1) and managed a draw with Tajikistan on June 16 in Dhaka. They lost to Kyrgyz at Bishkek (2-0) and to Tajikistan at Dushanbe (5-0) on November 12, while Jordan inflicted defeat (4-0) on them at Dhaka on September 4. Further, the country suffered a 5-0 defeat in Perth and 4:0 in Dhaka against Australia on August 3 and November 17, respectively. The biggest blow came in the form of ouster from the most coveted SAFF Championship after a woeful 4-0 defeat to Afghanistan and 3-1 defeat to Maldives. In fact, the teams extremely poor performance forced BFF to introduce massive changes although many would say BFF too was responsible for the way the team played. Apparently, the federation never bothered to prepare or train the national team or inculcate the right spirit in them. They kept changing coaches after every failure which might have prevented players from giving their best to the game. Even Italian coach, Fabio Lopez, who himself lasted only a few weeks, changed players positions and dropped a number of key players from the national team. Meanwhile, victories including that of Bangladesh under-16 team in SAFF under-16 Championship, Bangladesh Womens team in AFC under-14 Regional Championship, and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in AFC Cup final round proved the silver lining in an otherwise not-so-good year for Bangladesh football.