BOY! LOOK FORWARD: Interim national football team coach Shahidur Rahman Shantoo (3rd from L) makes a point to defender Nasir during a training session at the BKSP in Savar yesterday.Photo: STAR

Life in the national camp after the shocking departure of Brazilian coach Edson Dido Silva goes on. And with Shahidur Rahman Shantoo taking over as interim coach it looked like the job is in good hands.
The former national custodian, though first hesitated to take over, now appears fully focused and looks forward to cashing in on the players' eagerness to perform better in the upcoming SAFF Championship in Dhaka next month.
Though the void of terminated Dido, sacked by BFF on October 9 for sticking to a young side that the governing body did not like, was being felt more or less by every player at the camp, but at the same time, the players were determined to give their best under the supervision of the newly appointed Shantoo, who also doesn't want to pass up on this opportunity.
"The boys are very much positive at the camp as well as interested in learning, though all of them are not equally able to absorb all the matters," Shantoo told The Daily Star yesterday after completing the morning session on the rain-soaked pitch at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP).
"I have just worked with the players for seven days and at the moment I can only say they will perform better. I could have assured you to go to the top with this squad had I gotten them three months back," said Shantoo, who was initially not ready to take the charge of the national team following the termination of Dido.
His family from USA however provided him with tremendous backing, which has convinced him to take on the task of coaching the national team.
"I first thought that I might have been with the team as a manager or something else, but never thought I was going to be coach and I was distressed for two days, but my wife has boosted me by ringing me time and again and now I am enjoying my job and I am ready to take the challenge."
Shantoo is surely not alien to all the footballers as the promising booters like Zahid Hossain, Zahed Parvez Chowdhury, Nasiruddin, Atiqul Islam Mishu, Mamunul Islam, Mithun Chowdhury got the former national footballer as their coach in the Under-17 team five years ago.
Besides, Shantoo also took charge of Zahid Hasan Emily, Arman Aziz, Mehdi Hasan Ujjal and goalkeeper Mazharul Islam Himel in the 2004 SA Games though his charges did not perform well with a weeklong perpetration in that time.
What about the young players picked by Dido? "To be honest they are good players at their level and a few of them may be considered for the national team. The national team is a place where the players need a little bit of experience, temperament and nerve and I am trying to mix them up with the experienced players," said Shantoo, who holds an American B-licence.
Having sorted out the weakness of the players on the first day through a game among the players, Shantoo has been working on the technical side of the individual as well as the team.
"Our players have a bad tendency to play the ball back without any purpose and now I am emphasising on reorganisation in the midfield to go attack and the players are also responding very well," said the former national goalkeeper.
Asked whether he watched Bangladesh's match coached by Dido, Shantoo said, "Dido went for attack through two wings that left his own territory exposed and it is sometime dangerous for the counter attack. I am now working to fill up those voids and the players seem to understand what I want from them."
With the re-described definition, two backs Wali Faisal and Nasiruddin are mustering more shots on target and at the same time they can cover their position well, said Shantoo.
Striker Abdul Baten Komal's realisation was that Shantoo and Dido has a common area on how to possess the ball throughout the game while Zahid Hasan Emily said that the coach wants more shots from them on target.
"The departure of any coach leaves a void among the players and we are not beyond it, but we are professional players and we have to go forward and take charge.
"Now we are not thinking of the coach and our concentration is on how to bring better result at home and all are serious about it," said Emily.
The 32-member squad is going to be reduced to either 23 or 25 members in a couple of days and Shantoo said that he has no external pressure on him to select the squad.