Sports Desk: Bangladesh defeated Turkmenistan 4-0 in the qualifiers for the AFC U-20 Women’s Championship. Bangladesh were leading 1-0 in the first half of the match played at the Kamalapur Stadium on Friday (March 10). Akalima Khatun and Swapna Rani scored a couple of goals for the hosts to further increase the gap. Bangladesh maintained dominance from the start of the match. Bangladesh also created multiple goal opportunities.
However, Bangladesh had to wait until after the injury to take the lead. The hosts advanced in the match with forward Aklima’s goal. However, Turkmenistan objected for a long time, claiming that Bangladesh’s goal was a handball. At one stage, their coach also entered the field. However, the referee later stood by his decision. Turkmenistan also got a chance to equalize in the match. They create scoring chances on counterattacks. But Bangladesh goalkeeper Rupna Chakma came in front of the box and stopped the opponent’s attack. Bangladesh did not give any chances to the opponent’s girls in the second half either. On the other hand, the lead doubled in the 71st minute.
This time the goal was also by Akalima Khatun, who scored three goals in the SAFF U-20 tournament last month. Swapna Rani sent the ball into the opponent’s net two more times in a span of two minutes. In the 80th minute, Swapna gave the team the lead for the third time with a header from Iti Khatun’s cross. Two minutes later, Swapna took a corner shot from Shaheda Akhtar’s ripper cutback. However, her shot hit the feet of Turkmenistan midfielder Mamedova Malika. But the fast ball eventually finds the net. In the rest of the match, Bangladesh tried to increase the margin. But it was not possible due to the determination of the opponent’s goalkeeper. At the same time, Turkmenistan could not reduce the gap.
As a result, the hosts left the field with a big margin of 4-0 goals. In the previous match, Turkmenistan lost 1-7 against Iran. Turkmenistan crashed out of the tournament with today’s loss. Bangladesh must beat Iran to advance to the next round of qualifying. If that match is a draw, Bangladesh and Iran will have equal points head-to-head. Iran will play in the next round as the champions of the group as they lead on goal difference.
