Bangladesh ease into final
Bangladesh advanced to the final of the Bangamata U-19 Women’s International Gold Cup with an emphatic 3-0 win over Mongolia in the second semifinal at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Playing without their two top strikers in the form of Krishna Rani Sarker and Sirat Jahan Swapna, Bangladesh had to sweat it out to break down the physical Mongolian side. However, a superb strike from midfielder Monica Chakma right on the stroke of half time paved the way before second-half goals from Marzia and Tohura Khatun eventually ensured a comfortable victory for the hosts, who will face a rampant Laos in the final on Friday.
Sajeda Khatun and Marzia – the two replacements for Krishna and Swapna – initially looked good, but the early impression did not last long as the Mongolians made it hard for the hosts by blocking attacks from down the flanks. Bangladesh, however, had no trouble in establishing their control of the match, launching attacks down the middle to keep the opposition defenders on their toes.
The women in red and green, who had taken only 30 seconds to open their scoring in their previous match against Kyrgyzstan, came close to taking lead in the first minute once again as defender Akhi Khatun played a long-ball for striker Sajeda, who darted into the box but failed to control the ball while dribbling past her marker.
With Bangladesh keeping the ball around Mongolia’s box, Sanjida Akter rattled the post in the 17th minute before skipper Misrat Jahan Moushumi floated the ball over the crosspiece from the six-yard box five minutes later.
Monica, arguably the best player of the home side, finally broke the deadlock a minute into added time of the first half with a superb finish, controlling the ball with her head before unleashing a left-footed dipping shot from outside the box into the top of the net to the left of the goalkeeper.
After resumption, Sajeda was replaced by Tohura Khatun, who paired up with Marzia to make some excellent moves into the danger zone, but Marzia was not at her clinical best as she drove wide of an open net in the 52nd minute before being blocked by the Mongolia goalkeeper six minutes later.
Marzia, however, made amends for earlier misses by doubling the lead in the 69th minute with a placed shot after availing a defense-splitting pass from Monica before Tohura wrapped up the victory in the 85th minute with another shot from outside the box which took a deflection off a defender, bamboozling Mongolia’s goalkeeper.
Bangladesh might not have been able to match Laos’s record of scoring five against Mongolia, but they did leave the field with the satisfaction of their biggest victory in the tournament following 2-0 win against UAE and 2-1 win against Kyrgyzstan.