Agency :
With a vital point against India’s JSW Bengaluru FC secured, head coach Oscar Bruzon is now looking at Bashundhara Kings’ next challenge in Group-D of the 2021 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.
Neither side were able to find the net in their tie at the National Football Stadium on Saturday, a result which left Bangladesh champions side Bashundhara second with four points behind India’s ATK Mohun Bagan, which defeated Maziya Sports & Recreation 3-1, for their second win.
Bashundhara’s fate, however, are in their own hands as they can advance to the Inter-Zone semi-final with a win against ATK Mohun Bagan on Tuesday.
“I don’t think we were lucky today,” said Bruzon. “For 60 minutes the game was completely under our control, we created the best chances but it’s true that in the last 25 minutes Bengaluru came at us. They used their survival instincts, like they did in their last game but unfortunately they came up short and are out of the competition.
“Bashundhara are still in it and have one more chance to qualify into the next round and we are going to capitalise on this big opportunity. The result today is good for us. We played very well and although it may seem that we held back a little in the last half an hour or so, holding the result to a draw was the best option for us considering the game situation we were faced with.”
“Our finishing was not up to the mark today. We missed some important chances and if we had converted them early in the match, then I think we would have seen a different scenario over the course of the game. The most important thing is we didn’t concede any goals over two matches and that is a good sign.
“The players may have looked tired because they were also pressing in their own half. Bengaluru couldn’t get past us for 70 minutes and yes, we stepped back a little towards the end and that is when they took control of the game but I must stress that our defenders were on top of their game.
“Bengaluru’s chances were created from set-pieces and not from open play, so I think we should be satisfied with the performance and especially with the one point.”
With the game locked at 0-0, Bengaluru poured forward and were unlucky not to score in the 74th minute when Alan Costa’s header off a corner smashed into the crossbar and off the goal line, leaving head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli disappointed.
“This is our third match in nine days and I think we managed our performance well considering the humid conditions here in Maldives,” said Pezzaiuoli. “We limited Bashundhara to zero chances in the second half and had plenty of opportunities to score.
“The team have shown plenty of improvement since our last competitive match in the domestic league in February. People who are watching us play in this season’s AFC Cup will know that we’ve brought our game to a higher level.”
Bengaluru had 14 shots at goal against Bashundhara but only three were on target leaving captain Sunil Chhetri to lament on to what it could have been.
“It’s really disappointing because we worked really hard for this tournament,” said Chhetri. “If we had scored from one of our many chances through the set-pieces, then things would’ve been different but we have to accept what it is and look back and see how we can improve.”
