The Bangladesh Under-16 women’s football team showed glimpses of their true potential against the much stronger senior women’s side in an encouraging 4-1 defeat in a practice match held at Kamalapur Stadium yesterday.
The national team, comprising all the stars like forwards Sabina Khatun and Aung Mra Ching Marma, midfielders Mirona, Sui Nu Pru Marma and Mainu Marma dominated the scenario due to their experience and physcial toughness. However, the young girls displayed that they have the potential to carry the national flag in the future.
For the U16s, Bipasha Mali, Sanjida, Krishna exhibited good footwork and skills in front of the opposition goal-post while midfielder Razia produced a hard-working effort involving a lot of running. Coached by Golam Rabbani Choton, the youngsters were picked up from the Bangamata Fazilatunnessa Gold Cup and Plan U-15 football tournaments. The U16s did a good a job against their superior opponents who have been playing together for a long time at home and abroad. Inexperience made all the difference at the end.
Ace forward Sabina slammed a hat-trick and the other goal was netted by Aung Mra. Bipasha, who rattled the seniors with some superb dribbling skills, scored the consolation goal for the juniors.
Following the conclusion of the practice match, Choton expressed satisfaction over the performance of the U16s. “They have been training for the last one-and-a-half-months and the upcoming AFC U-16 Qualifiers will be their first international exposure. They are still learning. Their group rivals - Iran, Jordan and Iran - are far ahead in terms of standard. We hope to put up a fight against UAE. However, this team, I believe have the potential to progress forward,” said Choton.
