Bangladesh win against tough Kyrgyzstan

The girls in red and green on Friday earned an emphatic 2-1 win against Kyrgyzstan to progress to the semi finals of the Bangamata U-19 Women’s Gold Cup as champion of Group B. They started their group stage mission with a 2-0 win over the UAE and sealed a place in the last four by beating the Emiratis 2-1 in their second group match. Having already qualified for the semi-final, Bangladesh went into the Friday’s match in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman National Stadium in the capital targeting to finish as the Group B champion.

The girls in red and green began their group stage mission with a 2-0 win over the UAE and progressed to the last four after Kyrgyzstan beat the Emiratis 2-1. Both the home side and Kyrgyzstan have three points each, while the UAE were already been eliminated. The Bangladeshi girls dominated possession of the ball all through the match however misses a number of close chances.

Prior to the match, Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton said they will eye full three points when they take to the field Friday. “Even though we have qualified for the semis, we want to be group champion against Kyrgyzstan. Although a draw will be enough for us to finish as Group B champion, we want to win nevertheless,” said Choton to the media in the pre-match press conference Thursday.

Choton said they would have a trick up their sleeve when they lock horns with Kyrgyzstan. “Kyrgyzstan are physically stronger. They are taller than us. This is a problem. But our target will be to exhibit our skills and decide the game, rather than depending on the physical nature of our game. We have a trick up our sleeve, but I don’t want to reveal it here. Hopefully the girls will play well and we will win,” he said.

Choton informed that the three-day break between the UAE and Kyrgyzstan matches will stand them in good stead. “We got a three-day break. This is a positive for us, which Kyrgyzstan didn’t get. During this time, we worked on theoretical and technical things; we worked on the mistakes which we committed against the UAE,” said Choton.