The confident Bangladesh girls' football team are not only targeting the title but also looking forward to entertaining the home crowd by exhibiting their "improved skills" in the Saff U-15 Women's Championship 2017, which is all set to kick off at Kamalapur Stadium in Dhaka Sunday.
Due to the number of participating countries being reduced to only four, the eight-day long tournament will be held in accordance with the round-robin league format and the young Bangladesh girls are confident of outpacing India, Nepal and Bhutan in the title race.
The BFF announced the final 23-member squad Tuesday through a press conference where almost all the women footballers currently residing and camping at the BFF House were present. Bangladesh's preparation and expectation were also revealed there.
The girls in red and green have been preparing for the event for the last three months. BFF's strategy and technical director Paul Smalley mentioned that the team have two key aims for the tournament; first, to win the title and the other is to entertain the crowd.
Head coach Golam Rabbani Choton and key midfielder Maria Manda also echoed the same sentiment. While it is true that the Bangladesh girls' age-level sides have exhibited some impressive performances in the last few years, even then they have not been as confident prior to any tournament as they are now."We started the preparation right after the date of the tournament was given out three months ago. Eleven players out of 23 from the squad of Thailand (AFC U-16 Championship 2017) are eligible to play. Around 15 players have international experience," said Choton before adding, "We have been in continuous practice and the team have also improved than before. Hopefully we can play our natural game and win every match."
Maria, who is expected to hold the midfield and Akhi Khatun, who will lead the back four, are eager to display their improved performance to the home audience. "We have been playing together for a long time. This time we will be playing at home. The target is to win but also to gift the home crowd positive football," said Maria.
BFF women's wing committee chairman Mahfuza Akter Kiron informed that this will be the first time the women's team will be staying at the same hotel as the other participating teams at FARS Hotel in Paltan. In the previous tournaments, the team usually stayed at the dormitory of BFF House.
BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag said the teams will start arriving from Friday and the renovation work of Kamalapur's Birsreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium is likely to end soon. He also said due to the reservation of Bangabandhu National Stadium for athletics federation at that time, they could not use the country's top football venue for the tournament.
Shamsunnahar Junior and Sagorika are the two new faces in the squad after the duo joined the national U-15 camp more than a month ago.SquadGoalkeepers: Mahmuda Akhter, Rupna Chakma and SagorikaCentre-backs: Akhi Khatun, Nazma and Deepa KhatunRight-backs: Anai Mugini and Runa AkterLeft-backs: Nilufar Nila and Rumi AkterDefensive midfielders: Maria MandaCentral midfielders: Laboni Akter, Shamsunnahar, Munni Akter and Monika ChakmaAttacking midfielders: Tohura KhatunRight wingers: Marzia and Shohagi KiskuLeft wingers: Shamsunnahar Jr and Hrituparna ChakmaForwards: Anuching Marma, Sajeda Khatun and Sultana Parvin
Thursday, April 25, 2024
