Defending champions Bangladesh begin their campaign of the SAFF Women鈥檚 Championship 2024 against Pakistan with an eye of reaching the semi-finals of the tournament at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal, today.聽
The second match of the three-team Group A is scheduled to begin at 5:45pm Bangladesh Standard Time.
A win against Pakistan will confirm Bangladesh鈥檚 spot in the last four of the seven-nation tournament after Pakistan lost to five-time champions India 5-2 in the tournament opener on Thursday.
Bangladesh鈥檚 English coach, Peter Butler, believes that his charges have the quality to go all the way in this tournament.
鈥業 think Pakistan have a lot of qualities 鈥� big, tall and really physical... What I have seen so far. The standard of the tournament is not bad. And we technically will be at the best... From the discipline and focus perspective, I really do hope this team has a lot to offer,鈥� said Butler after Saturday鈥檚 training session at the St Xavier鈥檚 playground.
Bangladesh forward and captain Sabina Khatun said that their primary target was to win against Pakistan and qualify for the semi-finals.
鈥楩irst of all, we will have to win and confirm our semi-final spot,鈥� said Sabina.
Sabina believes that beating Pakistan will not be easy because the current Pakistan team is considerably stronger than the previous one.
鈥楾his Pakistan team is far better than the previous one... They will give hard a fight. So we will have a competitive match against them. Against India, they conceded silly goals,鈥� said Sabina, who was the top scorer in the previous edition in 2022 with eight goals.
Bangladesh will play their final group match against India on Wednesday.
