Girls suffer heavy defeat
Bangladesh started their AFC U-19 Women's Championship Qualifiers campaign with a massive 7-0 defeat against two-time champions South Korea in Group D opener at the Republican Central Stadium in Dushanbe yesterday.
The defeat to South Korea, whose senior side played FIFA Women's World Cup twice and have also qualified for the 2019 World Cup, was expected. However, the point of interest was whether the girls in red and green could keep the defeat within a respectable range. The Korean girls, though, showed the charges of Golam Rabbani Choton that there is still a long way to go for them to compete at this level despite their dominance in the South Asian region.
Bangladesh went on with the playing eleven, except for goalkeeper Rupna Chakma, which played the final round of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship in 2017. But they only managed to keep their mighty opponents at bay for eight minutes before conceding, with midfielder Choo Hyojoo breaking the deadlock. Kang Jiwoo and Mun Jinseo scored in the 17th and 21st minutes as the Koreans took a comfortable 3-0 lead in the first half.
After resumption, Bangladesh offered some resistance to hold Korea for 23 minutes, but the resistance broke down as Jung Minyoung, substitute Park Mideum, Kim Seoyeon and Kim Eun Soul scored one goal each to complete the rout.
Bangladesh, who are taking part in these qualifiers with the hope of finishing as runners-up, will play their second match against Chinese Taipei at the same ground on Friday.
In the day's second match, Chinese Taipei beat Tajikistan 7-0.
Comments