Iran defeated hosts Bangladesh 6-0 with winger Syedeh Tanin scoring a hat-trick to go top of the points table in the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship Group B qualifiers at the Kamalapur stadium on Wednesday.
In the first match of the day, India bounced back to the winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Jordan at the same venue.
With this win Iran took their tally to six, followed by India and Jordan who both have three points. Two consecutive defeats meant Bangladesh are out of tournament.
Bangladesh started brightly and came close to scoring. when forward Sabina saw her shot beautifully saved by Iranian goalkeeper Maryam Yektai in the 19th minute. Bangladesh held their fort until the 42nd minute before Syedeh Tanin broke the deadlock. Tanin beat Bangladesh keeper Sabina with a neat shot from the middle of the box.
Two minutes after the break Bangladesh defender Suravi Akter Eti brought Iranian skipper Zahra Ghanbari down inside the box and the tall midfielder made it 2-0 from the spot. Farhadikah Parvin scored the third in the 51st minute and Tanin netted the fourth in the 61st and the fifth in the 73rd minute to complete her treble. Zahra Ghanbari added the sixth on 87 minutes.
Earlier, India stunned Jordan with two early goals. Indian women outran their Jordanian counterparts all through and closely marked the Jordanian lynchpin Shahnaz Yaseen. The Indian defence line of Lochona Munda, Ashalata Devi, Rozina Khatun and Bijaya Devi proved too tough for the Jordanians to break down. Skipper Kamala Devi as usual was at the centre of all the actions.
Jordan got the first chance in the 13th minute but Shahnaz’s weak shot failed to bother Indian keeper Shita Sharma.
India went ahead in the 20th minute with forward Rina Devi tapping the ball home from a Nima Bhutia cross. Six minutes later Jabamani Soren doubled the lead as Kamala Devi rolled the corner from the right to onrushing Rozina who sent a low cross to Jabamani whose angular placing beat Jordan keeper Tareiza Hakam at her near post.
Shahnaz came close again in the 63rd minute but Sita Sharma fouled her outside the box to see a yellow card. Indian midfielder Bindiya Rani Devi headed goal in the stoppage time was disallowed for offside.
Indian coach Shukla Dutta coach praised her girls. ‘They played like a total unit and rectified the mistakes they committed in the first match against Iran, we want to improve more and hit our best in the next match,’ said Shukla.
Abu Hantash, the Jordan coach, said: ‘India scored two easy goals due to our mistakest, we failed to get back in the game.’
