Kolkata, June 28 -- India lacked desire in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh, said national football team director Subrata Paul. The former international who played 67 times for India also listed team spirit among the challenges faced by the senior men's team after the 0-0 draw in Shillong in March. The minutes of a technical committee meeting on April 17 stated that Paul, an Arjuna Award winner in 2016, "highlighted several key challenges faced by the Senior National Team (sic). These included issues related to Player's attitude (sic), patriotism and overall team spirit." HT has seen the minutes. Paul should explain why he said this, said former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia, an executive committee member of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), over the phone. "He should name the players he felt had not given their best so that they are not chosen anymore." On Friday, Paul, 38, did reference Bhutia and a host of his former India teammates. "I missed the desire that I saw in so many of my seniors and contemporaries such as Bhaichung bhai, Climax Lawrence, Sameer Naik, Deepak Mondal to name a few. The desire to play for the national team overrode everything including injuries," Paul told HT. "It is my responsibility to point that out." The qualifier against Bangladesh was Paul's first official match after being appointed in February. Before that, India won a friendly against Maldives 3-0. "Even there, the performance was not what was expected and I pointed that out to the technical committee," he said. "This is a team that has some players with a lot of experience and some with little. It is a team in transition and maybe that is why it did not gel." Paul said he did not know how the technical committee minutes were phrased and that he did not speak about players' patriotism. Going into the match, India were ranked 126 and Bangladesh 185. At the post-match press conference, India head coach Manolo Marquez said the performance was "very, very poor. Today, I felt we took two, three steps back." Since the Bangladesh tie, India have lost to 0-2 Thailand in a friendly and 0-1 to Hong Kong in another Asian Cup qualifier. An email from Paul on June 24 stating that a coach has to be appointed for the senior men's team led to speculation that Marquez had stepped down as he is reported to have wanted to. It also contradicted AIFF chiefKalyan Chaubey's comment that the executive committee, scheduled to meet on July 2, will discuss the head coach's future. "A wrong email was sent out," said Paul. "We will discuss Manolo's performance at the executive committee meeting, not the appointment of a new coach. Manolo continues to be India's head coach."...