With eyes set on the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers in Jordan, Bangladesh’s women’s under-17 football team is heading to Dubai to fine-tune their preparations through two friendlies against Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Though expectations are not sky-high, the team is determined to make the most of the warm-up matches.
The squad, led by head coach Saiful Bari Titu, is scheduled to fly to Dubai on Sunday, October 5, to prepare the team through two international friendlies: against Syria on Tuesday, October 7, and against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday, October 9. The coach sees these matches as their “real preparation” before the main event.
At a press conference on Saturday, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Women’s Wing Chairperson Mahfuza Akter Kiron said the decision to appoint Titu was aimed at ensuring “better training” for the young players.
Bangladesh will compete in the qualifiers in Jordan, where they must emerge as group champions to secure a spot in the finals. They will play against hosts Jordan on October 13, and against Chinese Taipei on October 17 with the aim of advancing to next year’s main event in China.
As team’s preparation for the qualifiers has been relatively short, with training under Titu beginning just a week ago, Kiron is not keeping her expectation too high, and termed the tour a “learning trip.”
Speaking at a press conference at the BFF House on Saturday, she said, “Jordan and Chinese Taipei are very strong teams. We don’t have high expectations that we’ll achieve great results against them. The players will treat this as a learning tournament to build themselves up. Our girls haven’t had the best practice due to various reasons. Our goal is for them to play well and compete. Most importantly, this will be a learning experience for them.”
However, coach Titu is optimistic with the preparatory matches: “I think the real preparation will happen in Dubai. Both Jordan and Chinese Taipei are ahead of us. But we are going there with the aim of qualifying.”
