Football: After being easily brushed off by a significantly superior Qatar team on Thursday, the national team is divided on what went wrong.

National team head coach, Norio Tsukitate said that the result was “sad” but must not impact remaining games. He said that the team has to now regroup and start from level one to prepare for upcoming matches.

“Never mind we lost the game, it is my responsibility to carry the team into the next match in a better condition with more focus and determination,” coach Norio said. “I know that my players gave their 100 percent in the game yesterday but the Qatar players had different abilities, they were stronger, faster and much more superior in every form for us to handle.”

However coach Norio thought the first goal could have been stopped if the players had made more of an effort on defence. “Maybe then the story could have been a different one in the end,” he said. “This goal in the early minutes shattered our players confidence which led to the 15-0 score.”

However, the coach is hopeful of a better scoreline in next month’s match up with the Maldives. “We’ve to analyse not only our opponent’s abilities but also our own and perform better at home,” he said.

Striker Chencho Gyeltshen who gave Bhutanese fans a few opportunities to celebrate during the match with Qatar said he did not expect the final scoreline especially with better performances against Hong Kong and China. He said Qatar played at a much higher level.

“We can improve the quality of the game only by improving the facilities back at home,” said the 19 year old striker who also plays professionally for a Thai team. “Regular practice and dedication from the players towards the game will definitely take football to the next level in our country.”

Goalie Hari Gurung, who was once again the busiest man on the field said that the superior physicality of the Qatari players could not be countered. “They were much faster than most of our defence and they intercepted almost all our passes.”

“If we had played more of a defensive game, we could have reduced the number of goals. We were trying to attack which left our defence venerable to counterattacks,” said Hari.

At the end of the game, Qatar’s head coach Jose Daniel Carreno came up to the goalie and patted him for his efforts. “He told me that he didn’t think I would save the penalty.”

Younten Tshedup