Mandalay: Bangladesh U16 women’s national team went down 3-0 to Asian footballing powerhouse China PR in their third and last match of Group B of Round 2 of the AFC U16 Women’s Championship 2019 qualifiers at Mandalay, Myanmar on Sunday.
The Bengal girls fought toe to toe with the Chinese outfit right from the 2:30pm (Bangladesh time) kick-off at the Mandalar Thiri Stadium.
However, the girls in red managed to sneak in through their right wing and Dai Xinyao made no mistake to put the ball into the net from a low cutback in the 29th minute.
Bangladesh tried to create some pressure after conceding but could not manage to capitalize on the chances created.
The first half finished with China leading Bangladesh 1-0.
The Asian giants hit Bangladesh for the second time in the very first minute of the second half.
Shao Ziqin went one on one with Bangladesh goalkeeper Rupna Chakma and tucked the ball in as Rupna failed to clear the ball.
China then scored the third and final goal of the match in the 53rd minute when their number 9 completed a clinical grounded finish from another one on one scenario.
Both the teams created some more chances till the final whistle but lack of clinical finishing meant that the group champion decider went to China 3-0.
Bangladesh (6 points) finish as Group B runners-up behind China (9 points) with 11 goals scored and 3 conceded.
Both Bangladesh and China have qualified for the finals of AFC U16 Women’s Championship 2019 scheduled to be held from September 15-28 in Thailand.
The AFC U16 Women’s Championship 2019 will double as the qualifiers of Asian confederation for the FIFA World Cup to be played next year.
The top three teams from the AFC will go to play in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup 2020 to be played in either France or India.
The girls have been working harder and harder in the training ground under the supervision of head coach Golam Rabbani Choton and technical and strategic director Paul Thomas Smalley and it paid dividends which has been manifested in the recent results.
The whole nation will be looking at the U16 women’s national team to fly the flag of Bangladesh at the world stage for the first time ever at any level.
