Flying starts for Lebanon, Vietnam
Lebanon and Vietnam made flying starts in Group F of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers, which got underway at the Birshrestha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.
Vietnam outplayed UAE 4-0 in the opening game before Lebanon thrashed Bahrain 8-0 later in the day.
Hosts Bangladesh, who qualified for the final round in the last edition two years ago, will play their opening game against Bahrain tomorrow in this five-team group.
Six group champions and the two best-placed runners-up teams will play in the second round of qualifying and battle it out for the four remaining spots in the final round. Last edition's top three finishers -- North Korea, South Korea, Japan and hosts Thailand received automatic qualification into the final round.
In the second match yesterday, Lebanon found it hard to break the opposition early, but once the first goal was scored by the half-hour mark, it became one-way traffic.
Centre-forward Nathalie Alabed scored a hattrick while Sophie Fayad scored twice and three other players scored a goal apiece.
Nathalie said she was pleased with scoring her first hattrick at the international level. “I am happy, but I score for the team and not for myself. The opposition played well in the beginning, but they got tired and we played well after opening the scoring.”
Lebanon coach Hagop Demirjian was happy with the score, but admitted that sterner tests await them.
“I have seen Vietnam play in the first match. They are a very good side. I have seen Bangladesh team's footage too, and they are agile and very fit. So the next matches will be difficult,” said Demirjian.
The Lebanon team celebrated their big win with a team song which, according to the coach, translates to, “We don't care about cups and championships; We just care about Lebanon.”
Earlier, Phan Thi Ngoc Tram scored twice in the first 25 minutes to give Vietnam a two-goal lead. Later, Do Thi Nhi and Bui Thi Thuong added to the scoresheet to give the favourites a comfortable start.