Bangladesh girls outclass Iran

Bangladesh kicked off their Asian Football Confederation Under-16 Women’s Championship 2017 Qualifiers with a spectacular 3-0 victory over favourites Iran on the inaugural day at Bangabandhu National Stadium on Saturday. The home side thoroughly dominated the opening half but were unlucky to see the scoreline goalless. However, they came back strong after resumption as Marzia Khatun, Mousumi Jahan and Tohura Khatun netted one apiece to earn Bangladesh vital three points. Iran are considered one of the favourites in the six-nation Group C Qualifiers and beating the Persian outfit will provide the Bengal girls more confidence in their historic bid to ensure qualification for the final round in Thailand 2017. Bangladesh faced Iran in the same event two years ago where they lost 2-1 but Saturday's match showed how much the girls in red and green have improved. The result tells little about the actual dominance of the Bangladesh girls. The home side could have scored at least three goals in the opening half as the first real chance came with only two minutes into the clock. Forward Sirat Jahan Shopna squandered a great opportunity to take the lead as she skipped past the onrushing Iran goalkeeper Maedeh Davaji only to shoot wide. Seven minutes later, Maria Manda hit the woodwork from the edge of the box after Marzia's free-kick from 20 yards out rebounded off the wall. The hosts almost took the lead in the 18th minute when Maria's close-range shot was denied by a lovely effort of the Iranian custodian following a Marzia free-kick. Bangladesh exhibited great energy and spirit after resumption and came back strong to heap more pressure upon the opponents. Two minutes into the second half, Davaji produced a brilliant save to deny Maria's strike from the middle of the box after collecting the ball from Mousumi. Shopna shot over the bar just three minutes later. Marzia gave Bangladesh the much-deserved lead in the 63rd minute. A long ball from Maria was blocked by Iran defender Hanieh Khodaparasti and Marzia shot on the rebound, finally beating the keeper. Mousumi doubled the lead three minutes later with a lovely shot from the right side of the box after Sanjida Akhter set her up with a pass. Tohura, who was the highest scorer in Bangladesh's title-winning campaign in the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional (South and Central) Championship in May this year with 10 goals from four matches, came off the bench in the second half and sealed victory in the 86th minute. Meanwhile in the day's other matches at the same venue, Chinese Taipei began their campaign with a convincing 7-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan while the United Arab Emirates and Singapore played out a 2-2 draw.RESULTSBangladesh U16 3-0 Iran U16 Marzia 63, Mousumi 66,Tohura 86 Chinese Taipei U16 7-1 Kyrgyzstan U16 UAE U16 2-2 Singapore U16