The football fraternity in the country hailed the Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF)  decision to suspend four players from the national team, citing that it would strengthen discipline among the team in the future.

After carrying out an investigation into the national team's failures at the SAFF Suzuki Cup and Bangabandhu Gold Cup, the national teams committee of the game's governing body on Wednesday handed one-year suspensions each to captain Mamunul Islam and Zahid Hossain and six-month suspensions each to Yeasin Khan and Sohel Rana on disciplinary grounds, with hopes of re-establishing discipline among players in the national team.

"I am not sure if it is logical to compare the cricket team with the football team but it seems to me that the cricket team is now more disciplined because an iconic player like Shakib Al Hasan was not pardoned of punishment on disciplinary grounds," said former national coach Golam Sarwar Tipu.

"These players are not of such calibre that they can influence the game due to their absence or presence."

However the 72-year-old coach said that the authority could have dug deeper to find out who else -- beyond the players -- was responsible.

"The players had better stamina and distribution two years ago but now they can't perform as a team. The BFF should have find out why that is the case despite being provided with facilities," opined the former coach.

Former national midfielder Motiur Rahman Munna supported the suspensions but thought that the national teams committee should have explained the causes for punishment as the players were still denying the allegations brought against them.

"If the players have been victims of injustice, other players will lose their interest to represent the national team. On the other hand, discipline will be strengthened if the decision is correct," said Munna, adding that the failure of the team management should also be probed.

"There might be questions about the process but I think whatever decision the BFF took is right one and will help the team in the future," Sheikh Russel president Nurul Alam Chowdhury said.

"I believe there is no patriotism or club feeling among the footballers of this generation. They are commercial rather than professional," said Chowdhury. "I think it will hurt players a bit when they will face the questions from their friends, relatives and others."