Bangladesh Under-16 women’s national football team will leave for Thailand today to take part in the AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship with only a hope of offering some competitive football against their mighty opponents in the group stage. Bangladeshi girls, who were drawn in Group B alongside reigning championship North Korea, Japan and Australia, will begin their campaign against defending champions on September 11.
In the second match, charges of Golam Rabbani Choton will face Japan on September 14 before taking on Australia in their last group match three days later.
This tournament is also the qualification stage of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup with top three teams out of eight will qualify for the meet.
However, Bangladesh are not thinking much over their qualification for the World Cup considering their opponents’ strength in the group stage as they have to face an uphill challenge against three of the best sides in women’s football in the world.
‘Our only target is to offer competitive football against our mighty opponents and I have full faith on my charges that they can deliver their best in the field,’ said Choton during a press conference at the Bangladesh Football Federation House on Thursday.
‘I know the reality and I also know about the strength of my team. So, I don’t want to give any unrealistic hopes.’
Bangladesh took a year-long preparation for this championship after qualifying in the final round by becoming champions in their zone last year.
In that one-year period, they played 22 warm-up matches against many Asian opponents, what Choton claimed helped his charges to improve their temperament for the big matches.
‘We travelled Japan twice, China, South Korea and Singapore and earned some valuable experiences by playing against tougher opponents what should help us to do better in the final round,’ Choton said.
‘In the last one year we worked very hard to prepare the girls mentally and physically. We know that our opponents are far better physically but the current fitness of the whole team is better as our players performed very well in the recent fitness test.
‘My only instruction for the players is to play fearless football and never give up attitude before taking the field.’
-With New Age input
