‘Players receiving mental boost to regain natural game’ ahead of Nepal semi

Following the morale-shattering defeat against India on Sunday night, Bangladesh players are receiving motivation through individual discussions ahead of Wednesday’s SAFF Women’s Championship semifinal clash against six-time runners-up Nepal.

Defending champions Bangladesh got off to a winning start against Maldives, but the women in red and green suffered a major setback with a 3-0 defeat to five-time champions India.

British coach Peter Butler today altered his original plan of holding a training session, opting instead for a recovery session at the Planet Hollywood Beach Resort hotel and meetings with the players to identify problems and work on solutions. Visiting journalists were also not allowed to speak with players or team officials.

“We are speaking with the individual players, trying to make them understand their mistakes, and working on how to solve them,” said goalkeeping coach Masud Ahmed Uzzal in video footage sent by the BFF media department.

“We are also trying to mentally boost every single player so that they can get back to playing their natural game. I hope our girls will bounce back in the match against Nepal.”

Explaining the defeat against India, the goalkeeping coach said the team had failed to execute their game plan and were punished by a strong Indian side.

“To be honest, we couldn't play according to our plan in yesterday's match. The plan we set, several individuals couldn't execute successfully, though some of them did,” said Uzzal, adding that goalkeeper Mile Akter was fine after suffering a minor head injury in the India fixture.

“When you are up against a team like India, you are bound to get punished if all of your departments don't perform together. And that is exactly what happened to us last night.”