Bangladesh women’s football coach Saiful Bari Titu believes the experience of facing Japan in an Asian Games match earlier in September helped his squad show more maturity and clinic against Singapore yesterday.
Titu’s charges defeated Singapore, which is rated 12 places higher than 142nd-ranked Bangladesh, 8-0 to complete the two-match FIFA Friendly series with two victories, having won the first encounter 3-0 three days earlier.
Bangladesh raced to a 3-0 lead by the 24th minute of the match at the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday, with Tohura Khatun scoring twice and Rituporna Chakma adding one.
While the home team did not add to their tally before the break, they shipped five more goals in the second half to register an emphatic victory in front of a cheering home crowd, thanks to another goal from Rituporna and one each from Sabina Khatun, Sanjida Akhter, Matsushima Sumaya, and Shamsunnahar Jr.
Interestingly, the result of yesterday’s play was identical to that of the last encounter against Japan, the former world champions; the fact that the women in red and green were on the receiving end of the hammering three months ago spoke volumes about the team’s progress.
“The players improved a lot mentally following the game against Japan, which helped in today’s game,” Titu, who is under contract until the end of the year, said after the game.
During the Asian Games, Titu’s first assignment as the women’s team’s head coach, Bangladesh also suffered a 6-1 setback against Vietnam before finishing the campaign with a 1-1 tie against South Asian rivals Nepal. However, the veteran coach was just interested in celebrating the two victories over Singapore.
“Bangladesh won 8-0, wow!” exclaimed Titu when asked about his reaction to the victory.
“I didn’t expect such a big victory.” When you score a few goals, your desire for more goals usually drops. “However, the players today were aggressive right until the end, which surprised me,” Titu continued.
Rituporna, who scored a brace and contributed two assists, called the game his best in the red and green shirt.
“This is my best and most memorable match.” I’m not unhappy because I didn’t get a hattrick. “The most important thing is that the team won,” stated the Rangamati forward.
Skipper Sabina wanted the team to score early, which they did yesterday, and that was the most satisfying element for the seasoned striker.
“The girls performed admirably. “They’ve worked very hard,” Sabina stated. “Our goal was to score goals in the first 15 minutes, and that is exactly what happened.” So we’re all content.”