Spittler sees a bright future for Bhutan despite defeat

The Bhutanese slipped to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Maldives to stay rooted to the bottom of Group D after Ali Fasir’s penalty in the 42nd minute was followed by a decisive second from Ahmed Abdulla 16 minutes from time. 

But, after a demoralising 14-0 thumping in their opening qualifying match against Oman in March in Muscat, Spittler was impressed by his players’ progress.

“We are a young team. You could see the situation at the beginning was very difficult for us,” said the German coach. “If you get a result like 14-0, it is very difficult to start the next match.

“You could see in the beginning some of my players were very nervous. Then they started to do better and I don’t know if it was a penalty, but I will surely not say to the referee that it wasn’t a penalty. I think it was stupid from our young defender, but you can give it. 

“I told my players that’s what happens if you are young and you will have setbacks, but the important thing is how you deal with it. I think they dealt with it very well.

“Even if we lost, I have to say they did much better than they were in training. A lot of good things to see and I think the spectators are happy. Sure it’s not good if you lose, but the first step is making a good match. 

“The second-half for sure was a good match. We also had some good chances. We could have made it 1-1. But in football if you get some stupid goals and don’t take your chances, you will lose. But I think the way we played is giving hope for the future.”

Bhutan claimed their place in the third round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup finals by seeing off Bangladesh over two legs in the playoffs last year, with Spittler in charge for the decisive second game of that clash.

His side won the game 3-1, benefitting from an early goal by Jigme Tshering Dorjee before going to complete an impressive win that took Bhutan into this phase of qualifying for the first time in their history.

“Against Bangladesh we were somehow fortunate because we scored in the fifth minute from a corner,” he said. “That gave a young team a good and secure feeling. 

“This didn’t happen today. Today we were set back by a penalty. Maybe if we scored first, things could have been different. But that’s the way it is.”