Ord happy with U23 boys’ performance

Doha, July 14: Andrew Ord, the newly appointed head coach of Bangladesh national football team, is happy with the performance of the U23 side despite their 3-0 loss to Qatar on Thursday.

Speaking frankly while giving his reaction on the match, Ord said, “Of course we are disappointed with the result. But actually, I was really pleased with the players. They gave everything they had.”

Analyzing the players’ on-field performance, he said, “We were really organized in the first half and made it very difficult for Qatar to create clear chances. Unfortunately, at this level, if you don’t concentrate and make a mistake it gets punished. We switched off twice which cost us 2 goals.”

“In the second half we pressed them very well and forced Qatar into mistakes. But in the end their superior fitness shone through,” added Ord.

Underlining the importance of playing more matches against quality teams in order to improve, Ord said, “We have learnt a lot from this game and the only way we will ever reach this level is to play games against countries of this quality.”

The newly appointed head coach has also thanked the huge Bangladeshi crowd in Doha’s Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium who turned up to support their home country.

“I would like to thank the thousands of Bangladeshi that came to support us. They created a great atmosphere and I think they realized that the players gave everything for their country,” concluded Ord.

After one more day of training camp in Doha, the team will set off for Palestine to participate in the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers.

Bangladesh’s first match in the tournament is against Jordan on July 19, 2017.