SAFF U-20 champs set for sterner test

GBNEWS24DESK//

Having clinched the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship on Thursday, head coach Golam Rabbani Choton vowed to translate such performances onto bigger stages. The platform for that is set, with the AFC U-20 Women’s Asia Cup Qualifiers slated to start next month, but the task will be far from easy.

Bangladesh will host the fixtures of Group H, also featuring Iran and Turkmenistan from March 8, with eight group champions advancing to the second round of the championship.

Choton may be eyeing better performances beyond South Asian borders after standing tall in the just concluded four-team SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship, but performing against teams like Iran and Turkmenistan has proved challenging in the past, when the squad was in an even better state than it is now.

During the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship Qualifiers in 2019, Bangladesh boasted the likes of Monica Chakma, Maria Manda, Krishna Rani, Masura Parveen, Israt Jahan Swapna, Rupna Chakma and many others but failed to perform when pitted against South Korea and Chinese Taipei, losing the matches 0-7 and 0-2, before thrashing Tajikistan 5-1 in the last match.

The current team only has a couple of players with that level of talent, so they are expected to face a tougher challenge against physically and tactically-superior Iran and Turkmenistan.

“Obviously, there are more challenges in the AFC U-20 Women’s Championship Qualifiers than in the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship. But I think the players have a good opportunity to improve their performance and get out of the group stage,” Choton told The Daily Star yesterday.

“They may have an advantage in terms of physique, but I think that problem can be overcome if we can improve the fitness of our team,” Choton opined.

Asked whether the strategy of playing long balls would work in upcoming tournament, Choton said: “We only played the long ball against Nepal in the final considering the weaknesses in their defence, but we played different in other games. I think all our players, including midfielders Swapna Rani and Shohagi Kisku, have the ability to play possession-based football against any opponent.”

The successful coach also believed the boost from winning the title would inspire the girls to put up their best showing in the AFC campaign.

“Becoming champions is always something and I think the triumph of the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship will give a good boost and more confidence to the players ahead of the AFC campaign,” Choton said, adding there were still areas to work on.