Dhaka, December 28: The SAFF Women's Championship 2016 is underway and Bangladesh is set to open their campaign with a match against Afghanistan on Thursday.

Skipper Sabina Khatun put her expectation quite clearly to the press when asked before leaving Dahaka. She said her team needed to beat the Afghans and reach the semis.

However a cursory glance at the team’s previous performance would put it all in perpective about how they might fare in this edition of the tournament.

Arguably, women’s football in Bangladesh has come of age only recently.

And this development was for all to see when the girls became unbeaten champions of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship-2017 Qualifiers last year.

But Bangladesh’s record in SAFF Championship does not provide much for the fans to cheer.

The team has been participating in the tournament since its inception in 2010 and have only managed to reach the semis in 2010 and 2014.

On the other hand, the domination of India and Nepal is evident from the roll of honour.

The two neighbours have been champions and runners-up respectively in all three of the previous editions (2010, 2012 and 2014).

Those who follow women’s football, think this year might be different – there might be a chance of something good.

The main strength of the Bangladesh squad that is now in India is the combination of experienced players and talented youths.

The team has players like Sanjida Akter, Krishna Rani Sarkar, Sabina Khatun (C), Marzia Khatun, Masura Parvin who are all capable of providing some magic and giving the fans some excuse to cheer.

Bangladesh will face Afghanistan in their opening group match on Thursday (December 29) before taking on hosts India on Saturday (December 31).

Alghough the skipper has only talked about reaching the semis, deep down they may be dreaming of going a few steps beyond.Paul Smalley, technical director of BFF, said that the squad has been training and developing together as part of the federation’s commitment to elite player development.

Players have been selected and recruited as part of a national programme of talent selection and the contributions of the local football associations and the districts throughout Bangladesh, he added.