SAFF Championship: Mamunul Mamun’s Absence In The Middle Was A Big Handicap – Bangladesh Coach Nikolai Ilievski

The highest ranked nation in the competition are yet to win a match in the SAFF Championship and coach Nikolai Ilievski gave vent to his frustration on a journalist.

On being asked as to whether he would have preferred to play an experienced goalkeeper in Biplob Bhattacharjee given that Sahidul Alam was to be blamed for Sagar Thapa’s winner, the Macedonian coach lost his cool.

“Forget Biplob…why change the goalkeeper after the first match? Are you coach or I? Why blame only the goalkeeper? Why not Meshu or Mithun?” responded Ilievski.

The Bangladesh coach stated that his team played well and further praised Nepal for their quick passing style.

“My team played better. I think our goalkeeper made a mistake but everyone makes mistakes.

“Nepal is a good team, they play quickly, pass the ball well. Nepal have more possession but in second half, we were better in counterattack.”

For the second straight game, Ilievski substituted his two strikers at the start of the second half and he explained, “Our team has a problem in the striking department. They didn’t have a good preparation and have worked only for about 15 days. Our strikers missed a lot of chances. Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi miss chances and do not score from each chance.”

Star midfielder Mamunul Mamun had to be excluded from the starting XI as he was running a high temperature.

“His absence was a big handicap for us. I had to change the tactics as he wasn’t around.”

The Bengal Tigers need to win their final match against Maldives and hope to qualify for the next round.

“Motivation wise, it’s difficult especially given the way we lost…in the injury time. Maldives have a good team. We need to get the maximum points.”