Jokers in a blurred vision

Kazi Salahuddin made headlines immediately after being elected as the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president for a second term in 2012. He famously talked about his 'Vision 2022' that understandably referred to Bangladesh football team's ambition of making it into the World Cup in Qatar. But on Saturday night, the charismatic striker of 70s and 80s, probably tried to hide his blushed face after being mocked in the cruelest way possible by a team that has proved beyond doubt that they are not even worthy enough of competing in the SAFF Championship, a competition dubbed a poor man's World Cup, let alone having sight of something which is light years away.

Bangladesh's 3-1 submission to Maldives last night in Kerala meant a first-round exit for them from the regional competition for a third consecutive time. It's quite a disclosure for a decorated Salahuddin, who will complete his second term in April next year.

The latest SAFF venture will go down as the lowest ebb in Bangladesh's footballing existence in a year where our cricket hit the roof. It won't be an aberration if this team is branded as pygmies, who know little about the beautiful game. They can hardly hold the ball, complete three good passes and take a proper shot at the target. Our 'so-called' midfield general Mamunul Islam during a recent TV talk-show fumed at the notion that we had better players before than what we have now. His argument was that we still have better players but it has not been noticed because football has become a team game now. For those who have grown up watching the country's domestic football, the answer to Mamunul and his teammates is that even a decent Pioneer League (Fourth Division) football team of the 80s could have fared better than this present bunch of jokers. Don't believe it, better ask one Aminul Islam, who hit a double hat-trick for a non-descript Pioneer League side, before switching to cricket and subsequently becoming a magnificent batsman of the country.

Bangladesh lost their opening game 4-0 against defending champions Afghanistan, a country that has decided not to compete in this regional championship from the next edition. Afghanistan's decision was actually guided by the idea to play in a more competitive and bigger league.

Maldives' 3-1 win is a rude reminder to an ever-declining Bangladesh, which was once tipped as the second best team of the region behind India. The tiny islanders were once subject to an 8-0 thrashing, a result which is now only a piece of distant history for Bangladesh.

We are not sure what course of action the governing body of Bangladesh football will take after the disaster. The immediate action, as it has been the case over the years, could be the sacking of coach Maruful Haque.

We know that it's a country where an instance of a top boss resigning his post, accepting the responsibility of the failure, is a rarity. We also know that our football officials don't like to take the example from cricket. But the time has come for a real shake-up, a real change in mindset and a brand new generation to pull the country's football out of a self-inflicted grave. We desperately need someone with a realistic vision of SAFF supremacy before anything else.