At the back of a disappointing 2-0 loss to Palestine yesterday, Bhutan’s head coach said that the Bhutanese players showed too much respect to the opposition and did not perform as expected.
This is Bhutan’s third loss since Torsten Frank Spittler took over as the head coach in October last year.
It was defensive resilience on show as Bhutan started the first half cautiously knowing an early goal could lead to a disastrous score line. Bhutanese fans had their hearts in the mouth for most part of the first half. Bhutan managed to keep Palestine at bay and went into the first half break with honours even. But for the head coach, sitting back was not really in the plan.
“I am a little bit disappointed about the result. At the beginning I think our team had too much respect.
“Our plan was to keep the ball on the ground, to pass the ball and at the beginning there were only high balls.
“I told my players in the match plan before as we are in general as small team with small boys it doesn’t make sense to play high balls because you are always the second winner,” said Bhutan’s Head Coach, Torsten Frank Spittler.
Three new players were given their international debut yesterday. Purna Kumar Pradhan, Chhuma Dorji Lepcha and Dawa Tshering were all used as second half substitutes.
At the post match press conference yesterday, the head coach also said that the squad will remain unchanged for the away game in Palestine on October 10.
For the Palestinians however, a hard fought victory which makes their entry into the 2019 AFC Asian Cup to be held in United Arab Emirates almost certain.
