Choton blames defence

There were questions marks over Bangladesh's defence since the start of the SAFF Women's Championship, and the vulnerability of the defence was mostly to blame for yesterday's 4-0 defeat against India in the semifinal.

“If you analyse the match, we were ahead till the 17th minute with better ball possession, but the players made same mistakes again. Goalkeeper Rupna (Chakma) could have fisted that corner away or the defenders could have cleared the ball but they made the same mistakes to concede the first goal. From there on the match slipped away from our grip,” analysed Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton at the post-match conference.

“After that opening goal, our players were not in the match as they became nervous. Actually they could not take the pressure against India, who are a matured and experienced side. The opposition exploited our weakness as our players were not in position they were supposed to be. They are still young and make mistakes. They need time to grow up and gather experience,” Choton said referring to the defenders.

Bangladesh chose to play attacking football against the Indians and that strategy seemingly exposed their defence, which the Indian team exploited to score two goals.

“Actually everything was right until we conceded the first goal. We dominated in the first 17 minutes but the girls were broken down after the first goal,” Choton claimed, defending the team's strategy. “India could not penetrate our defence initially as they got the opening goal from a corner-kick.” 

The coach, however, found some satisfaction from the fact that his side conceded less goals compared to the match they played against the same opposition during the Olympic Qualifiers in Myanmar in November last year.  

“We could not make put up any resistance during that 7-1 defeat in Myanmar, but this time the girls tried to bounce back and tried to play their own game,” Choton said, further claiming that the team improved in the last two matches as they fought till the end.