Football

U-17 girls aim to emulate seniors

PHOTO: BFF

The Bangladesh under-17 women's football team have set their sights on emulating the achievements of their senior and under-20 counterparts as they begin their AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign against Jordan today.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 10:00pm (Bangladesh time) at the Aqaba Stadium in Jordan.

Both the senior and under-20 women's teams recently made history by qualifying for their respective AFC Women's Asian Cup finals for the first time. Now, the U-17 team have the opportunity to complete a historic sweep.

While the senior and U-20 sides secured maiden berths in their respective AFC tournaments this year, it was the junior girls who originally blazed the trail, qualifying for back-to-back editions of the AFC U-16 Women's Asian Cup in 2017 and 2019. Many players from those squads now represent the senior and U-20 teams.

The current U-17 side, inspired by their predecessors, are aiming to top Group H -- which includes Jordan and Chinese Taipei.

Head coach Saiful Bari Titu expressed optimism ahead of the qualifiers.

"You know the Bangladesh senior women's team and U-20 team have qualified for the finals, so we want to follow in their footsteps and give our best to qualify as well," said Titu during the pre-tournament press conference on Saturday.

Titu, an AFC Pro Licence coach and former national player, acknowledged the challenge posed by the group but believes his team is prepared.

"I think this is a strong group for us, but we want to deliver a good performance and prove ourselves. We aim to give a tough fight to both Chinese Taipei and Jordan," he said.

The coach is also banking on the team's recent form, including two warm-up victories against Syria (2-0) and the United Arab Emirates (3-0) last week.

Though the current U-17 squad haven't faced Jordan or Chinese Taipei recently, Bangladesh's U-16 team defeated Chinese Taipei 4-2 in 2016 and Jordan 1-0 in 2014 during earlier editions of the AFC U-16 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers.

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