This is the fourth edition of the Saff Women’s Championship, a tournament in which Bangladesh have never reached the final.
The dominant Bangladesh women’s football team reached the semi-final of the South Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship after thrashing Afghanistan 6-0 in Siliguri’s Kanchanjonga Stadium on Thursday.
In Group B, India had earlier defeated the Afghans 5-1 and Bangladesh’s huge victory meant it was them, alongside the hosts, who made it to the last four.
Captain Sabina Khatun scored four times for Bangladesh in the sixth, 15th, 40th and 44th minute.
The women in red and green will now face India on Saturday to see who finish as group champions.
Bangladesh had defeated Afghanistan 6-1 in the last edition of the tournament in Pakistan two years ago with the then young sensation Krishna Rani Sarkar scoring a hattrick and Sabina netting one.
With that said, Afghanistan are not the same side they used to be before as they have improved in bits and pieces under their American head coach. They lost 11-0 and 12-0 against three-time champions India in the last two editions.
This is the fourth edition of the Saff Women’s Championship, a tournament in which Bangladesh have never reached the final.
Prior to the tournament, forward Sabina wanted to concentrate firmly on their first game before eventually setting their sights on the last four. No doubt yesterday’s performance will satisfy her a great deal.
This time around, Bangladesh women’s team are more confident with their prospects after the under-16 girls’ immense success in the Asian Football Confederation’s U-16 Women’s Championship qualifiers in September this year. The current squad is a mixture of youth and experience. Sabina has a wise head on young shoulders while Krishna has the exuberance of youth.
Meanwhile, Group A comprises Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nepal thrashed Bhutan 8-0 while Maldives thumped Sri Lanka 5-2 in the opening day on Monday.
