'Everything changed after the Bhutan win'

Detailed summary

Mohammad Ibrahim spoke to The Daily Star’s Anisur Rahman about his goal, time on the bench and away from the team, the improvements he has made to earn a recall, and the team environment.

Mohammad Ibrahim returned to the national team and made instant impact as a super-sub, scoring the decisive goal against Bhutan in the opening match of the SAFF Championship on Thursday. The 29-year-old forward, enjoying a rich vein of form with Fortis FC, spoke to The Daily Star’s Anisur Rahman about his goal, time on the bench and away from the team, the improvements he has made to earn a recall, and the team…

The Daily Star (DS): When you came on after 65 minutes with the match still goalless, what was going through your mind?

Mohammad Ibrahim (MI): The coach told me to stay around the box and make third-man runs because we were struggling to score. Balls were coming into the box frequently from the right. By the grace of Allah, I scored, and it feels very good.

MI: I was waiting for the second ball, anticipating where it might drop.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Daily Star. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.