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SAFF U-15 Women's Championship title challengers' battle today

December 24, 2017 00:00:00


Bangladesh will face a regional favourite side India in the final of the four-nation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Under-15 Women's Championship at Birshrestha Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur today (Sunday), reports UNB.

The final of the seven-match tournament will begin at 2pm on the artificial turf and the football loving people can enjoy the match entering the stadium free of cost.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith is expected to be the chief guest in the closing ceremony of the week-long meet.

State-run television BTV and satellite channel Somoy TV will telecast the match live while Prothom Alo Online through You Tube.

On the eve of the final day, Bangladesh Under-15 team head coach Golam Rabbani Choton and captain Maria Manda expressed their hope that they would clinch the title with their best efforts when both were talking in the pre-final press conference at BFF House on Saturday.

"My girls will give their best in the final to make the nation proud with a win. We're thinking about how we will give the best in the final instead of what happened back in the group stage as India is one of the favourite teams in the South Asian region," the coach said expecting media hype and more audiences at the gallery on the final day.

"We will follow the strategy of the on-field-change for the game. We beat India 3-0 in the group stage, that doesn't mean that we have scopes to take them lightly," the coach continued.

"We told before the start of the tournament that we will play match by match. We did it and found the results reaching the final without conceding any goal in the three group stage matches as my girls were fully devoted to their game," Choton added.

Maria Manda was much louder than the coach with her target as she said, "We will try our best to fire the net [Indian goalpost] first within the first 15 minutes of the game."

Indian head coach Maymol Rocky Nedugadan is also optimistic of winning the title as she said, "I prepared my girls for the win. My girls are not under pressure and will play their heart out tomorrow."

"I have heard about Bangladesh women's team strength and have seen them. They are doing better a lot. They (Bangladesh) are good and our preparation is also good and definitely, the host side (Bangladesh) will get support of local crowd. We will try to pull the support with our best," Maymol added.


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