SAFF victory dedicated to martyrs: coach Maruful

Dhaka, 28 Aug - Bangladesh U-20 national football team head coach Maruful Haque dedicated their maiden SAFF U-20 Championship victory against Nepal to the once who were martyred in anti-discrimination student movement which eventually turned into an uprising and ousted the Sheikh Hasina's government.

Bangladesh won the elusive SAFF U-20 Championship title beating host Nepal by 4-1 goals in the final held in Kathmandu, Nepal on Wednesday.

"Alhamdulillah.... all praise be to Allah ... at first we want to say we want to dedicate the SAFF championship trophy and success on behalf of my whole team to those martyrs who sacrificed their life in the anti-discrimination student movement," said Maruful at the post match press conference.

He said maximum effort has been given to keep the boys fit for the final because they have got one day to recover for the final match. The coach said instruction was given to the boys to play with cool head so that they can defend the Nepal's attacks easily. 

The Bangladesh coach said when the hosts failed to take the home ground pressure, he changed the playing strategy and boys were given instruction to go counter attack and play passing football.

He also expressed his gratitude and thanked to his boys who maintained their cool head all through the proceeding in the final match against Nepal and bring out the day's result.