U-15 girls clinch first away title

The Bangladesh under-15 women's football team emerged as unbeaten champions in the four-nation Jockey CGI Youth Football Tournament with a resounding 6-0 win over Hong Kong in their third and final game yesterday.

The girls in red and green won all three of their matches convincingly -- this win coming on the back of 10-1 and 8-1 wins against Malaysia and Iran respectively -- as the Bangladesh U-15 team won their first overseas title and their second overall after clinching the SAFF Championship title at home last December.

However, this is Bangladesh's fourth title in women's age-group football. Guided by Golam Rabbani Choton, the Bangladesh under-14 team had previously won the AFC regional titles in 2015 and 2016. They had also won the regional qualifiers of the AFC Women's U-16 Championship in Dhaka in 2016.

Striker Saraban Tohura bagged her second hattrick of the competition while Sajeda Khatun, Shamsunnahar Jr and Anuching Mogini scored one apiece for Choton's charges in the one-sided affair.

Tohura, who became the top-scorer of the competition with eight goals, started the rout in the fourth minute before Sajeda doubled the lead in the 39th minute. Tohura scored her second a minute later as Bangladesh went into the break with a 3-0 lead.

Shamsunnahar added the fourth in the 67th minute while Anuching scored the fifth in the 72nd minute. Tohura deservedly capped off the victory with her third of the game two minutes later.

The coach was happy with such a convincing campaign. ''I am very pleased with our overall performance in this tournament. We dedicate this trophy to all the martyrs of the Liberation War and the freedom fighters of Bangladesh,” he said.

The coach said this was a just reward for the team's hard work. “The team got reward for the hard work that has been put over the last few months. They have improved technically, physically and mentally within this time. They have played attacking football right through the competition and hardly gave the opposition a chance. They played here just like the way they did during the SAFF Championship at home last year.”

Hattrick hero Tohura said, “I am very very happy for winning the title and becoming the highest scorer in this tournament and also scoring three goals in today's match.  We all gave our full effort in this match against Hong Kong to clinch the championship title for Bangladesh.”

Shamsunnahar, who became the most valuable player of the competition, said, “I am very happy to become the most valuable player in this tournament and for the team becoming champions.”

The victorious Bangladesh team will return home at the early hours of Tuesday.