There was tension underneath the quiet in the headquarters of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday with Brazilian coach Edson Silva Dido's 23 probable for the SAFF Championship. But the local coaches liked to pin their hopes on Dido's choice though they have some observations about the 'inexperienced' squad.
The debate over Dido's squad was everywhere in the sport arena, mainly because of the exclusion of some experienced players like goalkeeper Biplob Battacharjee, defenders Rajani Kanta Barman, Ariful Islam, midfielders Zahid Hossain and Zahed Parvez Chowdhury as hosts Bangladesh are dreaming of regaining the title of the SAFF Championship at home soil for the second time.
It was clear that Dido emphasised on the youngsters in his side and the local coaches also appreciated his moves towards the young players, but they stressed the need of having experienced players in the squad.
"No doubt, the young players were given emphasis in the squad, but at the same time he (Dido) avoided some vital players, who have the ability to fight in the crisis moment at the bigger stage and also have the ability to motivate others. Definitely the team will miss their services," said veteran coach Golam Sarwar Tipu.
Tipu, also coach of Muktijoddha Sangsad, appreciated BFF's non-interference approach with Dido's choice but said that it is totally unethical if the coach axed someone because of a personal issue.
The former national coach was, however, worried whether the young players would be able to survive pressure in front of home crowd, but he hoped the boys would try to put their best.
Mohammedan coach Maruful Haq was critical about Dido's central defenders.
“The most vulnerable aspect of the Dido squad is central defending position as Al Amin and Rezaul Karim Reza are much too inexperienced,” said Maruf.
"Dido should have picked a couple of experienced players like Rajani and Ariful, but he did not. Besides, Biplob should have been in the squad as Aminul is still nursing his injury," said the Mohammedan coach adding that the frontline has no problem.
Maruf said, "No one can say Bangladesh will make a bad result, lets see how they play because the team performance depends on coach's approach, philosophy, strategy, tactics and plan.”
Brothers Union coach and former national player Wasim Iqbal also said that Dido should have picked a couple of experienced central defenders as the experienced and fit players are always needed in the central defending position.
"Look back at history, despite being at the fag end of their careers Kasier Hamid, Monem Munna were picked up by the foreign coaches. Besides, the big teams like Mohammedan and Abahani still rely on veteran defenders like Rajani, Sujan, Arif because they have the ability to tackle the adverse situation and I think the national team may face crisis in that place during the SAFF Games," said Wasim.
Wasim prefers to wait until Bangladesh launches their SAFF campaign rather than make any early comment.
Abahani manager and former national player Satyajit Das Rupu was, however, against Dido's choice.
"As SAFF Championship is our World Cup, so we should go all out with all our strength. Who will take responsibly if Bangladesh is eliminated from early stage and if I was a member of national team management committee, I would not accept Dido's notion," said the AFC B licensed coach Rupu.
Rupu also raised questions on how Rajani was declared unfit as he was under the guidance of Argentine trainer Diego Alvaro.