Sports
U-17s pitted against familiar opponents.

U-17s pitted against familiar opponents

Sports

Daily Bangla Times: Bangladesh have been drawn against familiar opponents in AFC U-17 Women's Asia Cup Round-2 group as the eight-team draw was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The girls in red and green find themselves alongside Australia, Vietnam, and Philippines in Group B, while Group A consists of South Korea, Thailand, Iran, and India.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the final round to be held in Indonesia following a single round-robin league fixtures from September 16 to 24. The matches will take place in a centralised venue and the host nation will be decided later.

Bangladesh came to the Round-2 after emerging group D Champions in Round-1 held in Singapore and the girls in red and green will vie for the final round for the third successive times as Bangladesh played the eight-team final round twice in 2017 and 2019.

Coach Golam Rabbani Choton remains hopeful of making it to the final round.

"All teams are strong in the group and all of them have chances to qualify for the final round. We also have a good chance to advance to the final round but it depends on how we prepare for Round-2."

Replying to a query, Choton said, "During the last edition of Championship, we drew against Australia in the final round after having beaten Vietnam and Philippines 2-0 and 10-0 in the Round-1 and Round-2 respectively. But since then everyone has improved. So, it won't be an easy task to repeat the feat but we have the capacity to fight against them."