Bangladesh go down 4-0 against Chinese Taipei

Bangladesh women's team suffered a 4-0 defeat against visiting Chinese Taipei in their first match under the tutelage of new coach Peter Butler in the first of two FIFA International friendly matches at the Bashundhara Kings Arena today.

Chinese Taipei, who are 100 places ahead of Bangladesh in FIFA Ranking, dominated the match as expected and notched up an easy victory, courtesy of a hat-trick from forward Yu-Hsuan Su.

Although the score line suggests otherwise, the women in red and green showed improvement and competitiveness against a strong Chinese Taipei side, who had defeated Thailand and India to advance to the quarterfinal of 2023 Asian Games before losing to Uzbekistan 2-1 in extra time in the last-eight battle.

Under the new coach, Bangladesh adopted a high back-line comprising – Masura Parvin, Afeida Khandokar and Sheuli Azim, had a five-player midfield with Sabina Khatun and Tahura Khatun playing upfront.

Bangladesh started impressively, pressing from the beginning, but lost ground as the match progressed.  

The Bangladeshi defenders couldn't keep up with the pacey Chinese Taipei forwards at times, who exploited the big space behind the backline.

Yu-Hsuan opened the scoring in the 11th minute, capitalising on a fumble from defender Afeida to strike to near post with a simple drive. Seven minutes later, Sin-Yun Su headed a Yi-Yun Hsu corner home to double the lead.

With the absence of injured midfielder Maria Manda, Bangladesh struggled to control the midfield. They tried to attack the opponents through the flanks but it was tough for them to break the experienced and physically superior backline of Chinese Taipei, who showed why they are ranked 40th in FIFA rankings.

Unmarked Yu-Hsuan widened the margin in the 26th minute, flicking a free-kick from Yi-Yun Hsu home. After resumption, Yu-Hsuan completed her hat-trick, capitalizing on another weak clearance from Afeida in the 56th minute.

Coach Butler put in five fresh pairs of legs in the second half, including Sanjida Akhter and Shamsunnahar Sr. Although the team played better after the substitutions, they were unable to create many chances. Only Monika Chakma came close to scoring, rattling the post once.