I think we deserved to win today, admits Bangladesh head coach Javier Fernandez Cabrera

The coach praised his side's incredible fight against Kuwait.

Despite a strong and resilient display against Kuwait, Bangladesh lost out to Kuwait after conceding a late goal in the semi-final, and are out of the 2023 SAFF Championship. The Bengal Tigers held a tough Kuwaiti contingent to a goalless affair up until the 90 minute mark, but conceded in extra time to bring about a heartbreaking end to their incredible journey in the tournament.

After this disappointing defeat, Bangladesh national team head coach Javier Fernandez Cabrera spoke to the media. Here are some of the excerpts from the conversation.

Thoughts on his team’s performance

Having already been ruled as the clear underdogs, Bangladesh proved a point to all the people who questioned their capabilities, and put up an incredible fight against Kuwait. Bangladesh’s head coach Javier also heaped high praises for his men, and commended this performance.  

“The performance from the team has been absolutely outstanding. Again, the consistency they have been showing in this tournament and that level of performance is absolutely incredible. They have done it again. They have been better than Kuwait today. We have had chances to win this game and qualify for the finals,” said Javier

“If we are able to give continuity to these standards, Bangladesh football is going to grow. That's all tough to accept, but we are very proud of the players, the team and the performance of Bangladesh in this SAFF Championship,” he added.

“The thing is that we created chances against a team that was for everyone the favourite number one of this tournament. They topped the previous group and had been unbeaten for months for seven or eight games. Nobody was expecting us to do what we did today,” he concluded.

Takeaways from this tournament

Bangladesh have had an incredible SAFF 2023 campaign, and have shown a number of positive signs of progress. When asked about the major takeaways for his side from this tournament, this is what Javier had to say.

“We get that we actually can be consistent. We have the level to compete with higher-ranked teams. We have good talent, we have good senior players, the mix is great, and the bonding. And if we are able to continue this with all the support that we need and with the players being at this level, this should be our level. We should never be below this level.”

Was his team unlucky?

Javier was also asked whether he thought his team was unlucky to have not won this fixture. This is what he had to say.

“We were great. The players again, the way we made three, four adjustments yesterday. We just had one session to adjust. And it's unbelievable the way they executed those adjustments. It's absolutely amazing the job that they have done. So yeah, I think we deserved to win today. That's the thing. We are disappointed but proud.” he exclaimed.

His team’s mentality

Bangladesh’s head coach also shed light on the mantaltiy of his team, and said the players ‘are ambitious’ and have a lot of ‘ character’.

“First is that is the character that the players actually have. These players are ambitious, they believe in themselves a lot. They know that we are a good team, and then they are brave. They believe in themselves and they don't care about who we play against. So that character and that personality is what the players have. So that is going to happen. It's going to keep on happening in a better way.” said Javier.