Historic victory for women footballers

The dream finally came true for Bangladesh women footballers, who earned their maiden victory over South Asian powerhouse India in the SAFF Women's Championship at the Dasarath Rangasala in Kathmandu yesterday.

Sirat Jahan Swapna struck a brace while Krishna Rani Sarker scored the other as Bangladesh beat India 3-0 to pull up the biggest surprise in the region's women's football.

The result not only ended India's enviable 25-match unbeaten run in the regional championship, but also helped Bangladesh top Group A and set up a semifinal clash against Bhutan, a potentially much lesser opposition. The semifinal will be held on September 16 while five-time defending champions India will square off against Group A winners and hosts Nepal in the other semifinal on the same day.

Apart from a goalless draw against India in the fourth edition of the championship in 2016, Bangladesh lost 11 matches against their mighty neighbours, including a 4-0 defeat in the last edition in 2019. Yesterday's result is not just a massive victory for Bangladesh, but might be dubbed as the biggest upset in South Asian women's football, where India had proved to be the unbeatable powerhouse over the years.

India may be 89 places above Bangladesh's lowly FIFA ranking of 147, but there was no reflection of that gulf in ranking on the pitch as it was the Bangladeshi players who dominated right from the word go in front of a big crowd, which boasted quite a few Bangladeshi fans too.

After having survived a bit of initial pressure from India, Bangladesh played positive football to press for the lead and found the back of the net in the eighth minute, but Swapna's effort was ruled out as Krishna had pushed India goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan in the build-up.

Two young Bangladeshi fans watch on from the stands. Photo: BFF

Bangladesh, though, took the lead four minutes later following a brilliant move, with captain Sabina Khatun setting up Krishna outside the box and Krishna releasing a defence-splitting through-pass for Swapna, who beat Chauhan with a placing shot.

The lead was doubled 10 minutes later when an excellent link-up play between Swapna and Krishna saw the latter enter from the left and the striker from Tangail placed the ball at near post, with Chauhan's outstretched leg failing to stop the attempt.

India had some sporadic attacks but the Bangladesh defence, marshalled by Akhi Khatun, Masura Parvin, Sheuli Azim and Shamsunnahar Sr, played tremendously well to foil almost every attack while helping the forwards go quick counter attacks.

Sabina, playing behind the forwards, turned into provider for the third goal in the 53rd minute as she released a clever through-ball for Swapna, who finished the move with another placing shot past the keeper.

"I would like to salute the girls, who made history with this victory over India," head coach Golam Rabbani Choton said at the post-match press conference. "The girls showed their ability today as they have been working really hard for last the five to six years."

"We were confident, especially after the way they performed against Maldives and Pakistan and we believed they could win if they carried the momentum from the previous matches," said Choton.

Player-of-the-match Krishna termed the victory as a result of teamwork and dividend for years of hard work.