Bangladesh head into SAFF with total belief, coach Dooley sees a real chance of the title

The 15th men's SAFF Championship begins on Thursday. Bangladesh are dreaming of the title after 23 years, and head coach Thomas Dooley says the goal is realistic and his team have a real chance of achieving it.

At the pre-tournament press conference, the team's poor performance at the ASEAN Cup came up for discussion. Dooley set those matters aside and expressed complete faith in his players.

Dooley said: 'I have one hundred percent belief in our players. If they perform on the pitch the way they have shown in training, achieve what they believe they can, and fight for ninety minutes, then we have a real chance of winning this tournament — one hundred percent.'

The Bangladesh coach also stressed the balance between dreams and reality. Dreaming is good, he said, but the team must be realistic — and in his view winning the SAFF title is a realistic target. What will happen will only be known by the 18th, he added.

Dooley spelled out his expectations plainly: the team must fight from the first minute to the last, play good football, and nobody can hold back. Playing with nine or ten players against Bhutan would leave no chance — everyone must give their best on the pitch, he said.

Questions were raised about Topu Barman, rather than Jamal Bhuyan, appearing at the press conference. Dooley replied that he has had two or three captains so far: Topu was captain before the Italy trip and Jamal was captain around the Italy tour. Topu will, or may, captain tomorrow's match, and there is no big surprise in that, he said.

With the coach's message that the whole team must give one hundred percent to win the title, Bangladesh begin their SAFF campaign on Thursday.