Dhaka, Sep 19: The Group-B clash of AFC U-19 Women’s Championship 2011 Qualifiers will kick-off from tomorrow here at the Birsreshta Shaheed Sepoy Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Kamalapur. India wiil take on Iran in the opening match at 3:00 pm (BST) and host Bangladesh will face Jordan at 7:00 pm (BST).
The participating teams, Iran, Jordan and India have already arrived and all of them eye to be the group champion as only the group topper will be promoted to the next phase.
Jordan arrived and started practising yesterday. They are preparing for the tournament for last two months. Jordan’s coach Maher Abu Hantesh said, “I don’t have any idea about the opponents except Iran. They have good technique and a good base of the game.” Maher expects a satisfactory performance from his 19 member side which includes two booters from last edition. They could not pass the first round last time.
Iran also could not move to the second round in the last edition but their senior team made all the way to the World Cup. They have a very good domestic structure of women’s football as they have clubs and leagues for women. They have four women’s youth team. These are the qualities that made Iran a strong rival.
Iran’s head manager Nadira says, “We have a very experienced side as we are playing for the third time in the competition. We have been training for the tournament since last four months and played three practice matches against a strong team like Thailand whereas we won two of them. We are expecting a good result here.”
Indian coach Sukla Dutt is emphasizing on ball possession. She is satisfied with the teams’ practice. They played a practice match against the U-13 men’s team. She has a good idea about Bangladesh but she is more tensed about Iran. “I don’t have any idea about Iran but I think they are going to be our toughest rival as they have a very good senior side,” said Sukla.
This is the first time Bangladesh are participating in this tournament. It will be a hard task for the novice host team as their opponents are ranked higher and are vastly experienced. However, Bangladesh players are determined to create a strong resistance and want to battle it out till the last minute.
A 33 member preliminary squad have been training for the competition since 25th July. Coach Mahmud Alam Babu is expecting hard fight though he admits the difference between Bangladesh and their rivals. “My girls are more equipped than they were at the beginning of the camp. They improved a lot in last one and half months. I hope there will be good contest in the field despite we are less experienced than our competitors,” said Babu.