Bangladesh Under-16 women’s team will begin their AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship campaign today against reigning champions North Korea at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand with a hope of displaying competitive football. The match will kick off at 4:00pm Bangladesh standard time. Considering the strength of the group B teams, Bangladesh are in bottom position in every aspect but the girls in Red and Green promised to give their best in the field against their every opponents.
The charges of Golam Rabbani Choton had two separate practice sessions on Sunday and they did not have much of problems to acclimitise with the condition.
Even though Choton said that he himself was very much excited to see how his charges would handle their mighty opponents but he claimed his players were very much confident about their ability.
‘I’m very happy to see our players are fully prepared mentally and physically,’ Choton said through telephone.
‘They are keen to play against North Korea even though they are the best side in the tournament. Our girls are also eager to prove that they have the ability to offer competitive football to the mighty opponents.’
Choton, however, didn’t forget the reality and refused to offer any promise.
‘Reality is that North Korea are not only the best in this level but they also are the champions of the AFC Women’s Under-17 Championship so we have to keep that in our mind before facing them,’ Choton said.
‘I don’t think much over the result. I would be happy if my players would keep their concentration for full 90 minutes which is very important for us because if we lose our mind then Korea could destroy us badly.’
Choton said he will set the game plan only after the first whistle.
‘Our players knew that how to handle match situations. They knew what their duty in the field is and when they have to change their game plan. Actually now they are very much matured.’
Team captain Krishna Rani said their main target was to play pressure less football.
‘Even though they are defending champions, we will try to keep relax for full 90 minutes,’ said the attacking midfielder.
‘We knew that they are also same-aged like us as they are not so taller than us. We know we have ability to play running and speedy football so we are very much confident to give our best and make our country happy.’
Midfielder Moushumi Jahan claimed that they didn’t feel any pressure before the first match.
‘We travelled many countries including Japan, South Korea and China and what we earned from those tours is the knowledge of how to handle teams who are better than us in every aspect,’ Moushumi said.
‘Once we were afraid to play against big opponents but now the things have changed rapidly and we now have the confidence that whoever would come in front of us, we would offer them some great challenge.’
-With New Age input
