Colman, who joined the BFF with fellow Argentine coach Diego Cruciani, was due to leave Dhaka last night by a Malaysian Airways flight.

The BFF did not renew Colman's contract but extended Cruciani's rein till the end of the SA Games.

It seems that failure at the under-23 competition in Sri Lanka next month would lead to Cruciani's exit too, although the Argentine had injected new hopes adding different style and above all -- Latin flavour -- to the country's football.

However, payment seems to be the major problem for not extending the Argentine duo's contract.

The members of the National Team Management Committee (NTMC) has been paying the Argentine duo and they are still responsible for providing the salary of the coach as BFF washed off their hands form the beginning.

Although the NTMC kept faith in Cruciani for another tournament, different quarters have been impatient, demanding his removal since a second-place finish in the SAFF Championship in Pakistan last December. Poor results in the Asian Cup qualifiers and a 6-1 defeat to Tajikistan in the AFC Challenge Cup at home in April strengthened the claim to get rid of him as soon as possible and even his loyal supporters now believe that the SA Games could be his last act for Bangladesh.

"If he wins gold for us, we can fight for him. This will be the last chance he will get. It's true we need a good coach for long-term but can't keep him after three failures," said a member of the BFF yesterday seeking anonymity.

"Also, he has been irregular in the camp recently. So things are against him right at the moment," he added.

Bangladesh are pitted against old foes India, Afghanistan and Nepal in their group at the SA Games. Bangladesh, who won the gold at the Kathmandu Games in 1999, will open their campaign against Afghanistan on August 16.

This would be the second successive occasion that under-23 teams will participate at the Games instead of national teams.