Cruciani leaves for Argentina on September 5

Dhaka, Aug 26 (BDNEWS) – Argentine coach Andres Diego Cruciani will leave Dhaka for Argentina on September 5 by a Malaysian Airways flight.

Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) 13-month contract with Cruciani will expire on August 31 and the BFF don't want to extend the contract with the Argentine coach, who joined as national football coach on October 5 last year.

Though the one-year contract with Cruciani was expired on October 5 and the BFF has extended it for another month for the just concluded South Asian (SA) Game football event, where Bangladesh U-23 booters exited from group phase.

Bangladesh u-23 booters clinched the football gold in Kathmandu in 1999, but they failed to reach the last four in the event twice in a row.

Cruciani guided the Bangladesh national football team in the SAFF Championship in Pakistan where Bangladesh failed to regain their SAFF title conceding a 0-2 defeat to India in the final.

Under his guidance Bangladesh also failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the AFC Challenge Cup in Dhaka and conceded a 1-6 defeat to Tajikistan, one of the worst losses in the country's football history.

However, he impressed all in his first assignment to make the team runners-up in the four-nation tournament involving the hosts Thailand, China, Bangladesh and India.

BDNEWS/2112 hrs