A goal-fest indeed

The Bangladesh forwards finally found their scoring boots to notch up a 10- 0 win against Kyrgyzstan at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday, the biggest victory in the Group C Qualifiers of AFC U-16 Women's Championship.

The girls, sporting blue shirts for the first time in the meet, treated the home fans -- who turned up with red and green flags -- with a glut of goals in yet another display of attacking football. Although rain stayed away for a change, it was a different kind of rain that the strike force of Krishna Rani, Anuching Mogini, Marzia, Maria, Shamsunnahar and Nargis Khatun showered on a hapless Kyrgyzstan in a bid to reduce the goal difference with Chinese Taipei, who are still on top with a two-goal advantage after their 9-0 win against Singapore in the day's opening fixture.

Krishna struck a hattrick while her young striking partner Anuching and defender Shamsunnahar scored a brace each. Marzia, Maria and Nargis put their names on the score-sheet as well in the one-sided affair against a team who came into their third match after conceding 16 goals. The impressive victory also marked an improvement for the Bangladesh girls, who were more clinical in front of goal against the Central Asian nation.

The girls not only showed their ability to score but also there were also a few eye-catching goals from the feet of Krishna, Marzia and Nargis which can be compared to goals of senior level competitions.

Anuching was given the room in the starting eleven for the first time in place of Sirat Jahan Swapna and the girl who was promoted from the U-14 team justified her coach's decision after breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute against an opposition who had opted to park the bus.

Afterwards, it was only a matter of time before the margin was increased as Bangladesh grew into the game more and managed to muster accurate shots on target, leaving their misfiring ways in the first two matches behind.

Like the previous matches, the home team clearly dominated their opponents from the first minute till the last and, with their scoring boots firmly on, they tore apart Kyrgyzstan in both halves.

It was also a delight for coach Golam Rabanni Choton that his strikers returned to scoring ways ahead of their crucial match against Chinese Taipei on September 3, the day when the group winner will be decided with a match in hand.

Bangladesh players run for joy after beating Kyrgyzstan 10-0 -- the biggest victory so far in Group C -- in their AFC Under-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers fixture at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Photo:Star

“I am happy because the girls rectified their mistakes to post a big win which we knew they were capable of. In the past two matches, the girls dominated throughout the match but squandered a lot of scoring opportunities. However, today [Wednesday] they were more accurate with their finishing.

“The margin could have been bigger had two goals not been cancelled, but we should not expect any more from this group of girls, who hardly got any time to breathe on the pitch,” said Choton, adding that the girls were given a clear message to score as many as they could in a bid to catch Chinese Taipei.

Meanwhile, Iran recorded their second win after beating United Arab Emirates 5-0.