'I dream of playing in the World Cup'

Shamsunnahar's main job is to guard the defence line but the left-back was often seen running around with the ball in the opponents' terrain, dribbling past defenders of the other side and scoring as many goals as the attackers during the ongoing AFC Under-16 Women's Championship 2017 Qualifiers. The amazing display as well as the sheer dominance of the young Bangladesh girls may have prompted Shamsunnahar to roam freely around the opponents' territory. And going by her performance against Chinese Taipei on Saturday, she was quite successful in her pursuit. The 13-year old defender is one of nine players in the current 23-member squad who hails from Kolsindur, a remote village in Mymensingh near the Indian border. She is one of the disciples of Mofiz Sir so the grooming with the other teammates started quite a while ago. Daughter of Mohammad Miraj Uddin, a fishmonger, Shamsunnahar reads in class seven in the Kolsindur Higher Secondary School. She was a member of Bangladesh's title-winning squad in the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional (South and Central) Championship in Nepal and Tajikistan. She was also a part of the women's national team in the South Asian Games in India this year. Golam Rabbani Choton termed the young defender as “one of the best left-backs” he has ever seen in Bangladesh women’s football and also made her the first-choice to take a penalty. The rest as they say is history as Shamsunnahar took three penalties in the qualifiers, and converted all of them. “We are preparing for a long time and worked hard. The coach instructed me where to shoot and when not to. I took extra preparation in spot-kicks and I managed to convert three penalties successfully,” said Shamsunnahar on Sunday. One of Shamsunnahar's great trait is that she can take shots from long range and keep them on target. She netted a spectacular goal against Kyrgyzstan with a strike from 35 yards out. With four goals from as many matches, she is jointly the second highest scorer among her teammates. Like many of the girls in the squad, Shamsunnahar is also straightforward while talking to others. The determination and dedication which helped them to move forward in the last couple of years were evident in her eyes and words. Football is more than a game for her. “Football is like worship to me. I only know I must play football and give everything that is inside of me. I want to do something for Bangladesh. I dream of playing in the World Cup someday,” said the 13-year old. This is something that no player from the senior men's team has even dared to utter.