Bangladesh girls made history in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2019 by becoming the first team from the nation to get competition point in the finals when Tohura Khatun’s brace held a strong Australia to a 2-2 draw in the last Group A match at IPE Chonburi Stadium in Thailand Saturday.
Striker Tohura broke the deadlock in the 20th minute and her teammates did enough to hold the lead till 77th minute before Claudia Mihocic equalized the margin. Tohura struck again within a minute but conceded an unfortunate goal immediately when Paige Zois restored the parity to maintain Australia’s unbeaten record and reach the semifinals for the first time in 10 years.
No other South Asian country ever managed to qualify for the final round before while for Bangladesh it was second successive time and this time around, they also became the first nation from this region to claim competition point at this level.
#Tohura delighted, but rues not having proper warm-ups https://t.co/h0zq9xOuLQ
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 21, 2019
Bangladesh’s hopes to reach the semi-finals already ended after they had lost to Thailand and Japan in their first two matches, but the girls in red and green kept their promises to conclude the campaign on a high note against a side who drew goalless against three-time champions Japan in the opening match.
Maria Manda and Co kicked off the campaign with an unfortunate note against the hosts who scored the only goal of the game following a silly mistake of Bangladesh keeper Rupna Chakma and were more unlucky for not utilizing four chances they created in the game including two by Tohura.
The second match against tournament favorite Japan was disastrous as Bangladesh suffered two goals in six minutes and never managed to recover from it before conceding seven more goals within the hour-mark.
Golam Rabbani Choton’s side was desperate to conclude the campaign with at least a point and they had to fight it out against their final opponents, Australia, who drew Japan and thrashed Thailand 6-1 in the opening two matches.
Along with shuffling the formation, Choton made three changes in the starting eleven from the previous ties by bringing in Sajeda Khatun on right wing, defender Mosammat Sultana on the left wing and Rituporna Chakma in the central midfield. None of them were regular starters for the side before, while it was first time starting appearance for Sultana.
The Australians, nicknamed the Junior Matildas, started the game with an aim to overhaul Japan as group champions by extending the goal-difference but Tohura surprised them.
Collecting a long ball provided by Monika Chakma, the striker took the lead with a brilliant long-range finish past rapidly advancing goalkeeper Miranda Templeman.
Bangladesh U-16 women’s football team head coach Golam Rabbani Choton has blamed the fear factor for his charges’ 9-0 defeat at the hands of Japan in their opening Group A match of the @theafcdotcom U-16 Championship in Chonburi, Thailand Wednesday.https://t.co/9CVxJb6AmH#BFF
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 19, 2019
Rupna made some fine saves to deny Hana Lowry and Beaumont in both half while the defence also remained solid to block the fast Australian attacks.
Mihocic headed in a corner of Lowry to equalize the margin but Tohura once again beat the opponents defence following a long-cross by Akhi Khatun before slotting home past onrushing keeper from the top of the box.
The Bangladesh delight lasted for only two minutes as Zois’ long range strike, against which Rupna might have done better to keep out, restored the parity.
Misfiring Bangladesh U16 girls kicked off their AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2019 campaign with a narrow 1-0 defeat against hosts Thailand at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand on Sunday.https://t.co/0cdv7Kl08l
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 15, 2019
Australian girls wept in tears after the final whistle while Bangladesh girls, despite leading twice occasions, went on to celebrate the historic point.
The two sides take on each other in the last edition of the competition two years ago where Australia snatched a hard-fought 3-2 win despite a 10-member Bangladesh leading the game until 77th minute.
Bangladesh girls are scheduled to return home Sunday.
WHAT THEY SAID
Golam Robbani Choton, Bangladesh head coach
“I’d like to congratulate our girls. They played very well. Before the match I said we needed to be competitive and give our best effort. We are not really happy, because the girls showed that they can play in a big tournament. The first match against Thailand was very unfortunate that we lost, and then the second was a disaster for our team, but we came back very strongly and played very well against Australia."
Rae Dower, Australia head coach
“Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Bangladesh on a really well-played game. They came out with a game plan, as did we, and they executed theirs a lot better than we did. We made two crucial defensive errors. You learn from the first one, but then repeated it with the second one and what was disappointing about that is we had just got back into the game with a goal. The positive is the girls found a way to get back in the game and take a point of it.”
