India brought high-flying Bangladesh down to earth when they beat the home side 2-1 in the group B AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship Qualifiers at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Sunday. With this defeat, Bangladesh’s chance to qualify for the final round in China is all but finished, as they now need to win their last game against Iran by a big margin and hope the other result to go their way.
Bangladesh had their chance to put India Under pressure when revelation of the tournament Sanjida Akter converted a penalty to give the home side an early lead but two goals from Roja Devi broke their heart.
Bangladesh were awarded the penalty after Amrita Kumari brought Krishna Rani down inside the box.
India restored the parity just nine minutes later when Susmita Bardhan was brought down by couple of Bangladeshi defender inside the box and Roja converted the penalty.
Bangladesh became a 10-member side in the 63rd minute as defender Masura Parvin was given a straight red card.
Roja sealed the victory by tapping the ball home after Kasmina’s free kick was blocked by Bangladesh goalie Ayesha.
‘I felt proud to see my team giving their hundred percent in the pitch,’ said Bangladesh coach Golam Rabbani Choton. ‘You have to consider the difference between the two sides as most of our players is hardly 14 and 15 but they fought very well.’
‘Once we were down to 10 men it became difficult for us to cope up against a strong India team,’ said Choton, insisting that the red card was the turning point in the game.
India almost got the third goal in the stoppage time when Kashmina’s long-range effort hit the crossbar.
In the first match of the day, UAE scored their first goal of the tournament but conceded another huge 1-8 defeat against Jordan.
Bangladesh, who beat Jordan and UAE in their first two matches, will play their last and final group B match against Iran on October 23.
-With New Age input
