Bangladesh men’s football team hovers around the lowest positions in the world ranking and even fails to do well in the regional tournaments but the women, especially the age-group teams are doing well and Maria Manda even dream of playing World Cup.
Maria led Bangladesh under-16 side in the final stage of the World Cup Qualifiers in the AFC zone and she believes with their gradual development they may dream even bigger.
“I want to do better. We are doing well now, but want to do better in future. Our wish is to play the world cup. We want to lift the country up by playing in the World cup,” said the footballer to media through video on Monday.
The young team is doing exceedingly well over the last three years. They reached the final stage of the AFC and despite received heavy bashing from the power houses like North Korea and Japan, they held good fight against strong Australia girls, drawing once and losing another occasion by a goal despite took the lead twice.
Their success in the South Asian level, where men’s are struggling for years even to reach the semi-finals, is praiseworthy as they reached the tournament final thrice in last three years, winning once and losing another time through a tie-breaker against mighty India side.
Currently, all sorts of sporting activities of the country is postponed due to covid-19 pandemic since late March and the young footballer is staying at the Mymensingh residence. But she is still keeping herself fit and prepare for the game with the guidance of her coach Golam Rabbani Choton.
“Staying at home and helping my mother. Also doing practices and listening to music. Our Head Coach Choton Sir gives us a schedule, we're following that. I can’t go outside now, doing core exercises at home. But try to go outside once a day,’ informed Maria.
She is proud for getting the chance of leading Bangladesh side and she said that inspires her a lot.
Maria, who has excelled herself to the senior level, made her league debut for Bashundhara Kings, the star-studded side in this year. The team completely dominated the tournament winning all five of their matches scoring 51 goals without conceding any before the pandemic halted the tournament.
Despite the presence of country’s best footballers like Sabina Khatun, Krishan Rani Sarkar and Tahura Khatun, young Maria made her mark by scoring three goals. She feels with the resumption of the league they all will be benefitted.
“If the league continues, we'll be benefited. It will also be benefitted for our families. Because we can little bit support our families financially due to this league,” said the teenage sensation.
