History in the air as ‘Bangladesh arrive as favourites’
Having posed with the shiny trophy at the Dasharath Stadium yesterday, just the day before the final of SAFF Women's Championship, Bangladesh captain Sabina Khatun smiled big after raising the trophy and the Nepal captain Anjila Thumbapo Subba did the same.
Who will have the final laugh will be known today in Kathmandu as both Sabina's Bangladesh and Anjila's Nepal are on the verge of creating a piece of history as the sixth edition of the competition is all set to welcome a maiden champion after five-time winners India failed to make it to the final for the first time in history.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. We have experience of performing in front of a crowd. Usually the hosts will get support from their own crowd, but the local crowd won't bother us [to perform and win the final].
While the rampant Indian side continued to bag all the glory, Nepal had to be content with four runners-up finishes while Bangladesh had suffered the same fate once. However, this time both Bangladesh and Nepal raised their bar by beating India, with Bangladesh handing India their first defeat in the tournament's history, which was followed by Nepal knocking India out.
Bangladesh were better than India as they came into the final beating India but we will give our full effort to make this final successful and we are confident about winning the tournament.
The women in red and green are on the brink of creating two pieces of history with a win – lifting the SAFF Championship trophy and beating the Himalayan nation. As Bangladesh are yet to overcome the hurdles of Nepal in the past seven meetings -- with only a goalless draw coming in their previous meeting in September last year – it will be a daunting task for Sabina and Co, especially considering the advantage hosts Nepal would have in front of their home crowd and familiar environment.
"No doubt, Nepal is a strong side physically, technically and tactically, and they have played the SAFF championship final four times. Besides, they have also been playing good football in the tournament in front of a big home crowd," Bangladesh coach Golam Rabbani Choton said yesterday.
"Before coming into the Championship, we have told you about the transformation of our team, who have also reflected it in their last four matches. I think Bangladesh arrive [in the final] as favourites as they are ahead of Nepal in terms of performance."
Having shrugged off all pressure ahead of the final, Choton is also expecting the repetition of performance against Nepal.
"The girls were used to playing many finals at different age-group international tournaments, where they once lifted the AFC U-14 regional trophy in front of the Nepal crowd in 2015. They also beat Nepal in the final of the SAFF U-18 Women's Championship in 2018.
"We are waiting to repeat the performance of the last four matches. If we can do it, I think we will win the final," said Choton, whose counterpart Kumar Thapa appears confident to keep the SAFF title home.
"It is new history for both teams who are in the final. So, we don't want to miss this chance and we are very happy to play the match at our home ground and expect our fans won't be sad after 90 minutes. The Cup is already here and we don't want to let it go anywhere," said Thapa while adding that his charges are ready to prove that Nepal are better than Bangladesh.
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