Qualification achieved, now we look ahead: Choton

Mandalay: Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton has stated that his team now looks forward following the end of Round 2 of the AFC U16 Women’s Championship qualifiers with the goal of qualifying for the finals having achieved. “We came here to qualify for the final round and we have achieved that. Besides, it is now a regular phenomenon that we are competing against real quality oppositions and we are not too far away either,” said Choton. Reflecting on the China match, the head coach said, “We played against one of the biggest Asian sides. However, apart from a couple of mistakes, our girls carried out the game plan really well.” Skipper Maria Manda said, “I’m very proud of our performance against China. We have improved a lot and will strive further to do so in the future.” http://jalaleeradio.com/uploads/051335.jpg Meanwhile, China head coach credited their possession football for the victory. Roger Reijner, the head coach, said, “We played a passing game with more possession. Bangladesh had to defend more and rely on counter attack for which they had to break the formation a little. I believe that that made the difference.” “However, both we and Bangladesh have a lot of areas to improve for the final round 6-7 months down the road,” he added. Bangladesh and China go through to the finals of the AFC U16 Women’s Championship 2019 after winning both of their respective opening matches of the second round of qualifiers. However, on Sunday afternoon, Bangladesh lost to their Chinese counterparts 3-0 which decided that China were the group champions. http://jalaleeradio.com/uploads/051347.jpg Nevertheless, the Bengal girls are stronger than ever this time around. The team scored a whopping 27 goals without a single reply in the four group matches in the primary stage of the qualifiers back in September 2018 at home. The girls showed no signs of slowing down as they continued to rain goals on their opposition beating Philippines 10-0 in their first Group B game in Round 2 of AFC qualifiers at Mandalay, Myanmar on February 27. The team then secured their place in the finals by beating hosts Myanmar 1-0 who were desperate to stop Bangladesh from scoring. Sunday’s performance really showed how far Bangladesh have come up against one of the biggest footballing nations in Asia, if not the world. Bangladesh adopted a slight change to their usual attacking and early pressing tactics. The game plan worked very well with again some outstanding performances and restricting the opposition to only a few chances. Whilst China dominated possession, it was manifest that the Bangladesh girls have matured way beyond their years with a strong and resilient rear guard. Overall, it can be observed that Bangladesh girls are not far away from creating a real upset in the not so distant future.
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