Desk Report,
Bangladesh scores 9 goals against Sri Lanka, Sagarika scores hat-trick
Bangladesh thrashed Sri Lanka 9-1 in the first match of the SAFF Under-20 Women’s Championship. The girls celebrated their goals with a show of strength from the first minute of the match at the Kings Arena in Dhaka today.
Bangladesh scores 9 goals against Sri Lanka, Sagarika scores hat-trick
Mosammat Sagarika scored a hat-trick, Munki Akhter scored two goals. Apart from this, Swapna Rani, Sinha Jahan Shikha, Rupa Akhter and Shanti Mardi scored one goal each. Bangladesh scored six of the nine goals in the second half.
Bangladesh coach Peter Butler named 8 members of the national team that played in the recently concluded Asian Cup qualifiers in the starting eleven today. Sri Lanka felt the impact from the first minute. Swapna Rani gave Bangladesh a goal in the second minute of the game. The 19-year-old midfielder scored the goal directly from a free kick.
Afeeda Khandakera also scored the second goal three minutes later. This time, Munki Akhter single-handedly shattered the opponent’s defense and doubled the lead.
Bangladesh made a few more promising attacks in the first 30 minutes. In the 15th minute, Mosammat Sagarika’s shot was blocked by the goal post. In the 19th minute, Munki could not hit the target even though he got the ball right in front of the post. However, this did not slow down Bangladesh’s attack. Finally, the third goal came in the 37th minute. Sagarika put the ball into the net with a soft shot from a cross by Bangladesh’s Sinha Jahan, who attacked from the right wing. Then, in the 38th and 45th minutes, they sent the ball into the opponent’s net twice, but they were not counted due to offside.
Bangladesh celebrated six more goals after the break. In the 48th minute, Munki scored his second and the team’s fourth goal from a pass by Sagarika, who attacked from the left wing. In the 49th minute, Sinha put the ball into the net after touching Shanti Mardi’s long cross. Then in the 52nd minute, Sagarika took a pass from Banya Khatun and scored the team’s sixth goal. Six minutes later, Sagarika again; this time she was happy to score her hat-trick. Pooja Das passed the ball to her from the right side of the post. The 17-year-old forward put the ball in the net in an instant. Rupa Akhter made the scoreline 8-0 in the 85th minute. Rupa evaded the eyes of the opposing defenders from Banya’s corner. After 90 minutes, Sri Lanka got a consolation goal. Opponent footballer Layanshika took advantage of the weakness of Bangladesh’s defense. Soon after, Shanti Mardi gifted Bangladesh the ninth goal.
Although five countries were supposed to participate in this tournament, India eventually withdrew its name. Therefore, this edition of SAFF started with four countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The format of the tournament has also changed. Now, four teams will play each other twice in a round-robin league format. Each team will get six matches. The team with the highest points will win the coveted trophy.
