Bangladesh head coach Thomas Dooley said he was happy with his side's performance despite a 1-0 defeat to Singapore in the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 on Monday, citing much greater aggression and better possession after a heavy 3-0 loss to Malaysia.
Ryan Stewart's first-half goal decided the match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, but Dooley said the players showed the fight and confidence he had demanded after he made four changes to the starting side that lost to Malaysia.
"That's why I'm so happy with this game, that we fought, we won 50-50 balls, what we didn't do before. We were aggressive against the ball, aggressive against the man, and we played football," Dooley said after the final whistle.
"We created chances, but we don't have a striker like Indonesia has or maybe Malaysia has. We don't have that, even in Singapore. So we need to find one, we need to create one, but that takes time," he said.
I hope we learn something nice and bring it home to the SAFF tournament and win the SAFF tournament. That is the biggest goal.Thomas Dooley, Bangladesh men's football team head coach
Dooley said the team was learning from each match and had improved markedly since the opening defeat.
"I'm pleased with the progress, losing the first game, learning from it, losing the second game, being much, much more dominant," he said.
Bangladesh have tried to build up play and possession-heavy football against both Malaysia and Singapore.
Despite the defeats, Dooley defended this playing style.
"I said play football, don't play only long balls because statistically 90% of the long balls you play, they're gone. You lose it and you chase them. I love to play football. I don't like to chase football,” he said
"But keep possession means you need to have confidence to do that. And that comes with when you do it again," he added.
Bangladesh will get another chance to salvage some pride when they face hosts Indonesia in the final Group A match on October 1.
Dooley, however, wasn’t too worried about winning the last match, as he stressed the ultimate goal remains lifting the SAFF trophy at home in November.
"I hope we learn something nice and bring it home to the SAFF tournament and win the SAFF tournament. That is the biggest goal."