Krishna, Sabina power Kings to 12-goal win

Bashundhara Kings cruised to a 12-0 victory over Anwara Begum SC as the Tricotex Women's Football League kicked off at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.

The big-spenders, who roped in 19 players from different age level national teams, slammed five goals in the first half before adding seven more against unheralded Anwara Begum SC.

National team striker Krishna Rani Sarkar scored four while Sabina Khatun, the most prolific and experienced female footballer in the country, bagged a hattrick, ensuring the reigning champions of the men's league lived up to the hype as title-favourites for the women's league too.

Mishrat Jahan Mousumi, another national team forward, bagged a brace while Maria Manda, Sheuli Azim and Nargis Khatun -- all national team players -- got on the scoresheet in the one-sided affair.

The result was quite expected as the formation of the seven teams have been too lopsided, with only one team apart from Bashundhara Kings boasting national team players.

Anwara Begum SC were only relying on their locally-groomed players and were far too short of skill and stamina. While the Kings had at least five shots come off the woodwork aside from the 12 goals, Anwara Begum SC failed to get a shot on target in 90 minutes, exposing the massive gulf between the two sides.

Krishna said they wanted to score as many as they could. "Our target was to attack right from the start and we did not ease up once we were getting those goals," said the striker who played a single match in the last edition of the league in 2013.

The third edition, which is featuring neither of the two former champions Abahani and Sheikh Jamal nor some established names in domestic football, might prove to be a cakewalk for the Kings given the performance.

Asha Karmakar, the hapless goalkeeper of Anwara Begum FC who was brought on after first-choice keeper Tahera Khatun had conceded three goals within the first 11 minutes, was unfazed by the outcome.

"I knew we were playing against a team full of national players, so I expected it. I'm not disappointed. I'm excited to have played in such a big match," the 15-year-old from Chapainawabganj said.

To her credit, Asha made a number of excellent saves, or else the margin of defeat might have been far bigger.