Cabrera losing Salahuddin’s trust?

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin blamed the head coach and his support staff following the men's team's back-to-back defeats against Palestine, which all but ended Bangladesh's journey in the World Cup Qualifiers.

The BFF boss watched from the VIP Box of the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Tuesday as Bangladesh conceded a stoppage time goal in a 1-0 home loss against the Middle Eastern nation, five days after being thrashed 5-0 by the same side in Kuwait.

The defeat left Javier Cabrera's charges bottom of Group I with a single point from four matches. Australia clinched one of the two spots for qualification with 12 points. Palestine are in pole position to secure the other spot with seven points while Lebanon sit third with two points.

While Tuesday's was a much-improved performance from the Men in Red and Green compared to the drubbing in Kuwait, the BFF boss was visibly frustrated with the result as the hosts relinquished an opportunity to earn a valuable point.

"I think there were a lot of technical mistakes from the team management," Salahuddin told reporters after the game, adding that he was pleased with the players' effort.

"The results in these two matches are due to technical mistakes by the management. I cannot answer this, the coach has to answer," Salahuddin said, in reply to a question regarding the coach's game plan and team selection.

The team selection and substitutions in both games have been questioned by the local media and fans.

Bangladesh played the first game against Palestine with a high-line defence and used right-back Bishwanath Ghosh at the left centre-back position and Isa Faisal as a left-back. The left side of the defence was exposed time and again by the opposition team and the organisation broke down completely once the first goal was conceded after 43 minutes. Both Bishwanath and Isa were taken off during the second half, but by then the game had gone beyond Bangladesh's reach.

A respected local coach said that he felt there was no use in having a contingency plan for the team, especially in the away match, once their initial plan had failed.

In Tuesday's game, there was no place in the starting eleven for Isa while Bishwanath went back to his usual right-back position, and Bangladesh fared much better in defence as well as in creating opportunities.

However, the decision to bring on Mehedi Hasan Srabon in place of injured Mitul Marma under the bar shortly before the goal, with experienced Anisur Rahman Zico sitting in the dugout, raised a few eyebrows.

"The performance was much better today but maybe a bit of lapse in concentration in the end cost us the game. However, I thought Zico could have played ahead of Mitul and Srabon given his physical stature and maturity of playing big international and domestic matches," the local coach, on condition of anonymity, said in his assessment.

Cabrera, though, defended his tactical decisions. "The result won't reflect the performance of the team, and how we have progressed. We shouldn't start making decisions based only on results against strong teams like Palestine, Lebanon, and Australia," the Spaniard said when asked about his reaction to what Salahuddin had said.

It is not the first time that Cabrera's team selection has caused surprise and it is not the first time that Salahuddin openly questioned the coach's decision-making, even as the Spaniard was handed a one-year-extension, for the second time last December.

When contacted by The Daily Star yesterday, Salahuddin declined to comment on his remarks from Tuesday, saying: "I don't want to drag this further. I will sit with the coach in a week."

It is believed that Cabrera's rigidness in sticking to his decisions and not being swayed by outside opinion is a major sticking point towards him completing his tenure. However, whether BFF will go for any extreme measures, especially following the bitter ramifications of sacking Jamie Day two years ago, remains to be seen.