‘Did not expect the girls' level to be so good’

Female players under the Bangladesh Football Federation’s wing stay on the offices’ third floor. Their daily routine revolves around training, working at the gym, and preparing for the next tournament, whichever level it is.

Sunday morning, they were there to train again. But it was a tad different than usual as an American pair trained them for over an hour.

Of the two, one was Schellas Hyndman, the former coach of FC Dallas, a team in the Major League Soccer, the premier football league in the USA. The other, is Vlastimir Davidovic, former assistant of Hyndman, and currently the head coach at Phoenix College of the Men’s Soccer team.

The duo had arrived at BFF as part of the US Sports Envoy Program, funded by the Department of State of the US Government.

Davidovic explained their project, “We are here for cultural exchange reasons and to interact with youth players here to share our expertise and knowledge about what we have acquired over the course of our lives but at the same time to learn from the culture here.”

The coaches worked with the current champions of South Asia, and by their words, they were amazed by the levels the girls portrayed.

“I did not ever expect the level to be as good as I saw. The thing that impressed me the most was the attitude of the young ladies. And the level of technical ability. And I can see in a little four v four, they have some tactical sense. They will continue to grow. And I expect them to represent Bangladesh with pride,” Hyndman told the media.

When The Business Post caught up with the veteran, he said that Bangladesh could compete with the USA side, which is arguably the strongest national team in women’s football.

“They can compete with the US. I’m not saying they would beat them, but they can compete. I have seen very good levels here. If they can grow and improve, they can surely compete on the global stage,” he told The Business Post.

The duo had other programs scheduled for the day as they met BFF officials, and visited the Bangabandhu National Stadium, the National Handball Stadium, the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, and the Mohammed Ali Boxing Stadium. They also paid a visit to the football academy for persons with disabilities in Dhaka.