BD women Asian Cup journey ends with defeat to Uzbekistan

Bangladesh finished their maiden AFC Women's Asian Cup mission with a losing note as they suffered a 4-0 goal defeat to Uzbekistan in their ultimate group match held at the Perth Rectangular Stadium on Monday, reports BSS.

After a fighting 2-0 defeat to defending champions China and 5-0 defeat to three-time champions DPR Korea, 112th-ranked Bangladesh clearly needed a win against Uzbekistan in their last group match to keep their quarterfinal hope alive, but Afeida and co. could not do their job properly, rather they lost the match in a big margin.

Bangladesh was trailed 1-0 in the first half and conceded three more goals in the second half due to mistakes of the defenders. Bangladesh conceded two goals in the span of four minutes in the 62nd and 66th innings.

Coach Peter Butler could not change the fate of the game even after bringing Shamsunnahar, Prity and Halima on in the second half. Swedish based midfielder Anika Rania Siddique, who was brought in the playing eleven for the first time, also failed to show any performance. A win would significantly brighten the girls in red and green's chance of progressing to the quarterfinals. Instead, Bangladesh will return home with the consolation of valuable experience from the tournament. Bangladesh's hope suffered an early setback when Uzbekistan took the lead early in the 10th minute. Following a counter attack Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva gave her side a deserving lead with a superb powerful shot. After the restart, substitute Dildora Nozmova struck twice in the 62nd and 66th minutes to extend the Uzbek's lead before Nilufar Kudratova sealed the victory scoring the fourth goal in the 88th minute.