U-16s up against Japan today

Smarting from a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Thailand, Bangladesh under-16 women’s team will hope to avail goal-scoring opportunities when they take on favourites Japan in their second Group A fixture of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship at the Chonburi Stadium today.

The match will get underway at 3:00pm (Bangladesh time).

The charges of Golam Rabbani Choton had to pay a heavy price for their profligacy in the first half as they never came back into the match after conceding the lead in the 59th minute despite creating a couple of scoring chances in the dying moments.

Now the team is up against three-time champions Japan, who had beaten the girls in red and green 3-0 in their first-ever meeting between in the last edition in Thailand. They need to produce a piece of history by beating Japan if they want to stay in the race for the semi-finals.

Injuries to captain Maria Manda and striker Tahura Khatun, however, is also a concern for Bangladesh, who are mainly focusing on availing opportunities and not making the same mistakes. 

“In the next game, we will try not to repeat the same mistakes we made against Thailand,” coach Golam Rabbani Choton was quoted as saying by the AFC website.

“Two years ago, the team had less experience because we didn’t play a lot of international matches. But this time around, the team has experience of playing in AFC and SAFF tournaments. This is a big tournament and our girls are improving a lot,” Choton said.