Bangladesh women Under-20 national football team will face off a huge challenge of their Iranian counterparts in the AFC U-20 qualifying match today to advance to the next round.
The match will take place at the Bir Sreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Komolapur, Dhaka at 5 pm (BST).
It will be a do or die encounter for Bangladesh when they have no option but to winning to move into the next round of the AFC U-20 age group qualifying competitions, as they set up a winner-takes-all clash with Islamic Republic of Iran. The final round of the competition will be held in Uzbekistan in 2024.
Meanwhile, the round one features a total 28 teams with the eight group winners to progress to round two, where the four best sides will earn a spot in the finals where they will join the three highest seeds from the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 - champions Japan, DPR Korea and Korea Republic - and host nation Uzbekistan.
However, today’s match for the Bangladesh women turned into a must win situation, as Iran are ahead of Bangladesh in goal average when they won their match against Turkmenistan by seven goals to one when Bangladesh won the match against the same opponents by 4-0.
So there are no option for Bangladesh girls but to win the match to go forward, as Iran need only a draw to move into the next round.
Bangladesh, played their first match without their key performer Shamsunnahar (Jr), who was injured and they had to struggle hard to break the deadlock when they managed 1-0 first half lead scoring led the first half for only 1-0 with scoring in the dying minute before the break.
Head coach of the team Golam Rabbani Choton also believes that his girls will have to perform better against Iran – “Iran is very strong side, I think it will be a fifty-fifty match, who could utilize the chacnes will come there ways will win the match. We will have play for win. So it’s essential to improve to win against Iran. Players will have to outshine from kick off,” said Choton.
Choton also noticed some of the performers of Iran as he mentioned some of the players name as he said, “They some experienced and skilled players, specially the jersey number 7 and 9 are the players to mark, who are technically very much sound.”
But the head coach of the team was very much optimistic to win the match, as he said, “Obviously we will play to win the match and have every possibility to win.”
Choton about Shamsunnahar, who was ruled out in the first match against Turkmenistan, said that she will be not available in the today’s match as she could not cover her ligament’s injury.
Choton also thinks that his team’s main strength is that they can play at equal pace in full 90 minutes time.
