Bruzon relieved to win first trophy

Independence cup

Bashundhara Kings celebrate with their Independence cup trophy after the final in Dhaka on Thursday Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik

Bruzon saw the positive aspect of injuries and suspensions that allowed him to test the depth of the squad

Pressure was on Oscar Bruzon from the beginning since he joined Bashundhara Kings to guide the most expensive squad this season. The Spanish coach had to lost the Federation Cup final against Abahani but finally was a relieved man clinching his maiden title with the new club and also the club’s first-ever silverware in its debut season.

It was tough journey for the former Maldives outfit New Radiant head coach as he missed the services of half-a-dozen of his key players due to injuries and suspensions. Special thanks went to in-form goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico along forward Daniel Colindres and Baktiyar’s versatility at the back and up front that earned them crucial wins in the knockout stages.

Baktiyar landed in Dhaka in the morning and filled the gap in defence in the absence of injured Spanish defender Jorge Gotor Blas. The Kyrgyz midfielder will fly back home along with Bruzon, Colindres, Marcos Vinicius, Gotor for a vacation after the final yesterday. The vacation will end on January 6.

Bruzon saw the positive aspect of injuries and suspensions that allowed him to test the depth of the squad. He said, “We really suffered a lot with injury and cards and lost six key players out of contention. The back-up players have been doing great. No one has a guaranty in the eleven. This is good for us but it was tough because this competition has been long for us as we have played two games that went into extra time along with today’s game. We are the fair winner of the tournament.”

Both Bruzon and Saiful Bari Titu termed Sheikh Russel’s equalizer a key point of the game. “We knew that if we score first the game would be much easier but their goal took us a bit out of our usual game.”  While Titu said, “We were lucky to equalize the margin at the right time. We wanted to utilize it and came up strong in the second half. We have been good in attacking but we made a crucial mistake in giving away the ball to Matin Mia for the goal.”

Bruzon also talked about his message to the players after the equalizer. “I wanted to win the game before the shootout and extra time. We tried very hard in the second half but Russel also played a very serious game in the second half, especially in their defence.”

Extra-time match winner Motin Mia said after the win, “I wanted to prove my worth whenever I got the chance, say for 5-10 minutes on the pitch as a substitute. Then I will get chance in the best eleven. So I tried to give my best when I came off the bench today.”

He added, “We have a World Cup playing player in the team. It means a lot to me that I scored the winning goal despite their presence. Their supporters were there for the goal.”

Colindres, who has been in excellent goal scoring form explained: “It was a very good game as Russell are a very good team. I think they played very well and have excellent players.

Source: Dhaka Tribune.