Home ›› 22 Jul 2022 ›› Sport
After three league titles in three years of being in charge, the sky is the limit for Bashundhara Kings’ head coach Oscar Bruzon as he believes that his team will soon be prepared to become the best club in the South Asian region.
Kings beat Saif Sporting Club 2-0 in the 20th round of the Bangladesh Premier League football to secure their title defence with two games in hand, and expectedly, the celebrations were limitless and jubilant, especially because they became the first team to win three consecutive titles after being promoted to the top-flight of Bangladesh football.
The adversities were not few for Kings this season. They were hammered 3-0 in the Independence Cup final by Dhaka Abahani, and as they refused to play on the artificial turf of the Shaheed Sipahi Mostofa Kamal Stadium in the Federation Cup, they withdrew from the tournament and were later banned. Then, their league title defence was shaken at the very start as they lost to Swadhinata KS in their opening fixture.
And thus, it was no surprise as Bruzon marked it as his sweetest league title.
“No doubt this BPL title has been the toughest one, and sweetest, due to the tremendous adversities we faced all along the season,” he told The Business Post in an interview.
The Spaniard added that it was important for them to win the league because of their ambition for international success.
“Satisfied (with the league win) and glad to be part of this group of good people and professionals. It was important for our club to retain the BPL title, but our goals and ambition are to become a powerhouse in the international arena in the next few years,” he said.
The coach also opened up about their journey, “Our work environment has been impeccable and unbeatable throughout the last years.”
“Every member of the club works under a very clear idea of cooperation and contribution towards success, and we prove every day on the pitch that we have a strong belief in ourselves as part of Bashundhara Kings,” Bruzon explained.
One of the signs of BPL’s improvement was the home-and-away format as there were six match venues across the country.
Bruzon understands that there is still a long way to go and that the BPL must have the best pitches available for the development of the overall game.
“There is still a long way to go until every club can enjoy playing at their home ground. The BPL deserves to have the best pitches which will allow to development of local talent and player attributes,” he said.
But after their three-peat, Kings have nothing but success at the Asian level in mind. They have thus far beaten teams from other South Asian nations and have lost just one game in three bouts, but Bruzon is hopeful that with the process they are on, they can find supremacy in South Asia.
“I truly believe in the process. Our team tends to get better and better every season, and I am pretty sure our club will soon be prepared to be the best Club in South Asia,” he said.
To date, foreign players have played a pivotal part in Kings’ success, with skipper Robson Robinho racking up 23 goal contributions this season. They have also had Iranian defender Khaled Shafiei, Brazilian midfielder Miguel Figueira Damasceno, and striker Nuha Marong. They previously had Daniel Colindres, who joined Abahani this season after a one-year gap.
Bruzon said that their success resulted from building a solid team all-around.
“One of the pillars of our success is our regularity in getting solid results and also having depth in our squad of players. We have important players in our squad, but club success revolves around building a winning unit,” he said.
And to keep that strong core, Kings have already tied down their Brazilian skipper Robson for two more years. Bruzon does not have a long-term contract yet, and he refused to reveal anything before the season ends.
“I will not comment (on my contract) until we end our club season,” he said.
