Hosts take on UAE

Hosts Bangladesh will likely rest a few key players when they take on United Arab Emirates in their third match of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur today.

The match will get underway at 3:30pm after the day's first fixture between Vietnam and Lebanon at 11:30am.

Bangladesh and Vietnam currently share the top spot with six points each from two outings and on equal goal difference. Lebanon have also secured six points but are in second position due to a lesser goal difference. Therefore, it will be crucial for all three of the Group F teams to perform well in the penultimate round if they are to qualify for the next round, which begins on September 23.

Bangladesh brushed Lebanon aside with a scintillating performance on Wednesday but now, the girls in red and green are considering whether to conserve some firepower for the match against Vietnam on Sunday by resting a few players in today's encounter with UAE, who remain winless following 7-3 and 4-0 losses to Lebanon and Vietnam respectively.

“The girls need some rest before the match against Vietnam. Besides, captain Maria was booked once, so we may bring some changes in the starting eleven against UAE but we will go for a victory,” said coach Golam Rabbani Choton yesterday. 

“At the moment, we are not thinking of the goal difference with the other teams because we will play the second match after Vietnam. So we will keep that in mind when we take on UAE,” said Choton, adding that he expects a more organized performance in the attacking third today.