Atique Anam

Penalty shootouts have always been one of football's cruellest examinations. After 120 minutes, months of preparation, and often, years of sacrifice, an entire nation's dreams can rest on a kick from 12 yards. History celebrates those who convert, but it hardly forgets those who falter.

For years, football authorities have promoted technology as the answer to the game's biggest controversies. Goal-line technology, semi-automated offside systems and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) were all introduced in a bid to make the sport fairer and more accurate.

For decades, football has been increasingly defined by numbers. Possession, shots, expected goals (xG), completed passes and touches inside the opposition box have become the modern language of football analysis.

In a wide-ranging interview, Zulfiqar Mahmud Mintu reflected on his earliest FIFA World Cup memories, his coaching philosophy, the evolution of modern football and several other aspects surrounding the greatest football spectacle on earth.

The Bangladesh Football Federation had promised a transparent, exhaustive and perhaps even revolutionary search for the next head coach of the national team.

And it is not just ticket prices that have spiralled.

In a repeat encounter of last season’s Challenge Cup fixture, Federation Cup winners Bashundhara Kings thrashed Bangladesh Premier League champions Mohammedan by 4-1 in the curtain-raiser of the new football season at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla yesterday..

In a freewheeling interview with The Daily Star's Atique Anam at the team hotel in Dhaka, the former West Ham United midfielder opened up about his football methodology, plans for the future, the shortcomings of the federation, men's football, and the controversies he has found himself in.