Choton sees improvement despite failure

Head coach Golam Rabbani Choton believes Bangladesh are inching closer to superior teams in AFC age-group women's competitions following a 1-0 defeat against Iran in the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium yesterday.

Iran progressed to the eight-team second round as Group H winners after breaking the hearts of the women in red and green, who dreamt of advancing to the next round by putting behind Iran.

Bangladesh did beat Iran once at age-group level, but that one came in the AFC U-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers in 2016.

Bangladesh U-16 girls then qualified for the finals of the 2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship by crossing a two-round hurdle, but no other age-group women's team from Bangladesh have been able to emulate that feat.

The U-19 had failed to get out of group stage of this competition -- in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018.

Asked why the under-19 team can't get replicate what under-16 team does, Choton said, "We have come very close to teams like Iran and if we can maintain the way we have been improving, it won't take much time to catch them.

"Despite having better infrastructure and domestic competitions in Iran, who are ranked 68th in FIFA, our girls fought neck-and-neck from the first minute and I think it is because of our improvement," added Choton.

Bangladesh U-19 had suffered a 6-0 defeat against Iran during the qualifiers in 2010, but this time the margin of defeat was a much slimmer.

"Iran are superior to us in terms of technique and physicality but our girls created a few good opportunities and even dominated them in some passages of the game," Choton said, also ruing that his forwards lacked confidence.