Interim coach Oscar Bruzon has already announced his intention to implement an attacking style of football in the upcoming SAFF Championship, but an inability to find the net has been a long-standing problem for Bangladesh, evidenced by their failure to go past the group stages in their past four attempts in the biennial competition.

The Spanish coach's attacking plans will undoubtedly require forwards to play a key role, but Bangladesh may face similar problems as they go into the competition without any prolific forwards and their top striker, Nabib Newaj Jibon, sidelined by a knee injury.

Hope may rest with Suman Reza, the promising striker who struck a brilliant brace against Kyrgyzstan U-23 earlier this month.

Suman netted both goals with dipping shots from outside the box, stunning the Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper. It was obviously not a fluke from Suman, who scored 10 goals to finish as the joint-top scorer among local footballers in the just-concluded Bangladesh Premier League.

"I got five to ten minutes in international matches instead of the full 90. I played from the start of the match against Kyrgyzstan U-23 side and availed both opportunities during the match," said the Uttar Baridhara Club striker, who made his international debut against Nepal in Dhaka earlier this year.

Since his debut, Suman started only two matches before getting the full 90 against Kyrgyzstan U-23.

"If you play the full match, you get some goal-scoring opportunities. I got full starts against the Kyrgyzstan U-23 team and capitalised on both chances," he said.

The 26-year-old added that he grew in confidence after striking the brace.

"I lacked confidence before but that grew after the brace in the last match. I think I will now get more game time and more opportunities to score. I will try my best to strike goals in the SAFF Championship if I get enough match time," said Suman, who believes the forwards can score against any team if they get proper service.

"We usually played defensive before and train on how to defend against big teams. But Bruzon is training us to play attacking football and creating a defensive line in midfield instead of defending deep. He also wants a united team, which will attack collectively and press opponents as soon as the ball is lost. I think the players are responsible for implementing the game plan."