Nine-goal defeat for U-16 girls
Bangladesh put up a dismal performance in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship, suffering a 9-0 defeat against Japan at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand yesterday.
The second defeat in two matches means the girls in red and green are out of running for the semifinals, and will end their campaign with the match against Australia on September 21.
Following a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Thailand in their opening match, Bangladesh team promised to fight back against the three-time champions. But it proved to be a complete humiliation for Bangladesh, similar to the one they had endured in a 9-0 defeat against North Korea two years ago.
Even though Bangladesh had given a brave fight against Japan in 2017 in an eventual 3-0 defeat, the current charges of Golam Rabbani Choton were helpless against the Japanese, who came into the match on the back of a goalless draw against Australia.
Bangladesh looked vulnerable in every department and never looked organised either in defence or in attack. Goalkeeper Rupna Chakma looked helpless throughout the match and the Japanese girls took advantage of her lack of height with shots from outside the danger zone and succeeded most of the time.
Manaka Hayashi opened the scoring in the second minute with a diagonal shot from outside the box, finding the net off the far post. Momoko Nebu doubled the margin with another diagonal shot four minutes later. Bangladesh ended the first half with a five-goal deficit before conceding four more goals in the second half.
“A defeat against Japan was expected and our hope was to perform well, especially after losing 1-0 against Thailand. But the girls could not even replicate the level of performance they showed against Thailand,” Choton said at the post match press conference.
“The girls actually broke down mentally and lost their confidence after conceding the early goals against a strong Japan side, who came here after playing a lot of practice matches. However, the girls tried to perform but they could not do so according to our expectation,” said the long-serving coach.
Choton, however, wants to look forward and end the campaign with a good outing against Australia.
“We will motivate our girls in next few days so that they can perform well against Australia, a side we fought well in the last edition of the championship,” said Choton.
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