Bangladeshi girls confirmed their place in the last four of the first ever SAFF Women’s Football Championship with a 9-0 thrashing of Bhutan in a group A match at the Cox’s Bazar Stadium on Wednesday.
Local girl Aungmraching Marma, who had earlier scored twice in a warm-up game against the same opponents, slammed a hat-trick, first by a Bangladeshi player in the tournament, while Sabina Khatun, Suinu Pru and Farhana netted two goals each.
It was the second win for Bangladesh in the tournament, which was enough for them to advance to the semi-finals. India had earlier booked their berth in the semis from the same group with a 7-0 drubbing of Sri Lanka.
With the outcome Sri Lanka and Bhutan were eliminated from the group stage.
Bangladeshi coach Golam Rabbani Chhoton was determined to confirm the semi-final berth and therefore avoided any experiment against an inexperienced Bhutan, who conceded as many as 18 goals to India in their first match.
The full-strength Bangladesh team kept the Bhutanese busy with frequent attacks throughout the match and scored on a regular basis. Nuby Ching Marma rattled the crosspiece in the 13th minute and treble-star Aungmraching opened her account with a header from a rebound.
She was again on target three minutes later while Bangladesh’s most renowned striker Sabina Khatun made it 3-0 on 20 minutes. Aungmraching hit the back of the net in the 30th minute to complete her hat-trick. Defender Farhana made it 5-0 four minutes from halftime.
The home team went into the break with a six-goal lead as last match’s scorer Suinu Pru ruffled the Bhutanese net in stoppage time of the first half.
Chhoton’s charges became more aggressive after the break and got success within minutes, with Suinu Pru striking again.
There was a complaint against the local side that they lacked stamina and it became evident with every passing minute as they eased their pressure on Bhutan in at the fag end of second half.
Still they managed to score two goals in the closing minutes with Farhana and Sabina finding the back of the net to make it 9-0. Bangladesh will face India in their last group game on Friday which will decide the group champions.
Chhoton said he was satisfied with his team’s performance. ‘My girls gave their best and we have got our desired result. We will put all our efforts to make it to the final,’ said the coach.
Earlier in the day’s other match, India’s prolific striker Sashmita recorded her second hat-trick of the tournament while Tababi scored twice. Supriya and Pinki netted the other two goals for the tournament favourites.
