A bold step

Tom Saintfiet, the Belgian coach of the national team, invited the most important debate Bangladesh has ever come across in its footballing existence when he dropped 'inspirational' captain Mamunul Islam and four other key players for today's crunch Asian Cup Qualifying Playoff against Bhutan.

On the face of it, Saintfiet, with a heavy profile to show for it, might be risking his short Bangladesh stint to even shorter by taking such a bold decision, but with a lot of logic to it. He said he dropped Mamumul for playing for Bangladesh Navy along with four other players while skipping the national team training session two weeks ago and returned with injury.

“I have never seen this in my life,” is what he exactly said while explaining his decision to drop the midfielder. Regarding the other players, who featured in Bangladesh's 5-0 defeat against Maldives in an international friendly in Male last week, he said:  “The other players whom I omitted was because they could not perform under pressure in the second half against Maldives in the way they should have, being experienced players. If we analyse that match and the training sessions in Dhaka, we could not take the risk of having them, especially against Bhutan who have speedy players.”

He was so forceful and articulate while explaining his decision that not many in the briefing came up with any counter logic. But we can rest assured knives will be drawn from all quarters if his gamble with a new-look team backfires against Bhutan. A defeat will be considered a humiliation against a team Bangladesh have never lost to. Besides, cynics will come up with the same old rhetoric that a foreign coach, who is not aware of our culture, should not have been given a free reign when the Bhutan game was of paramount importance to us in achieving short-term goals.

But for many, including yours truly, Saintfiet's professional outlook is something our football desperately needs to start from scratch with, even if it is at the expense of a defeat against Bhutan. Bangladesh football -- both mentally and physically -- is at a stage now where there is no quick fix. It needs a coach like Saintfiet, whose voice should be heard and heeded by our football authority if we are to be a competitive team in this part of the world and beyond.

Go on Saintfiet. Win or lose, we are rallying behind you.