Bangladesh Under-16 Women’s Football team left Dhaka for Japanese city Osaka Saturday noon by a Singapore Airlines flight to prepare themselves for the eight-team final round of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship
to be held at Chonburi Stadium in Thailand from September 10-23.
During their seven-day stay in J-GREEN Sakai National Training Center in Osaka, Bangladesh Under-16 women’s team, which has already qualified for the final round of the prestigious AFC women’s junior meet, is very much hopeful to gain in valuable experiences and skills ahead of the AFC U16 Championship.
The touring Bangladesh team will participate in the intensive training session and play some preparation matches against local selections.
Bangladesh women’s team is likely to play three preparation matches against Osaka Kaisei High School on June 19, against Academy Sakai on June 21 and against Osaka Seisho High School team on June 23 apart taking part in daily training session.
Earlier, the head coach of U-16 team Golam Rabbani Choton said the biggest take away from this tour would be the experience. He pointed out how playing regular high-profile matches would allow the team to correct their mistakes and strengthen the team.
Skipper of the Bangladesh team Krishna Rani Sarker said the team is poised to gain experience to deliver a strong performance in the upcoming AFC U16 Championship final round on September 2017.
Bangladesh Women’s U-16 team will start their campaign in the eight-team AFC U-16 Women’s Championship taking on defending champions North Korea in the first match on September 11 at 17.00 hours (local time) at Chonburi Stadium in Thailand.
Bangladesh put in strong Group B along with holders North Korea, last time runners-up Japan and Australia while Group A teams comprises South Korea, China, Laos and hosts Thailand in the prestigious Asian Junior Women’s meet scheduled for September 10 to 23.
In remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Japan on Sept 14 at 17.00 at IPE Stadium in Chonburu and Australia on Sept 17 at 18.00 hours at the same venue.
Hosts Thailand will play inaugural match with comparatively weaker Laos on Sept 10 at 19.00 hours at Chonburi Stadium.
On completion of the group matches, the Group A champions will play Group B runners-up at 16.00 hours while Group champions will face Group A runners-up at 19:30 hours o Sept 20.
The final match will be held on Sept 23 at 19:30 hours while the 3rd place deciding match will be held on the same day at 16.00 hours.
