8-month wait comes to fruition

In tears and shaken with horror, the Bangladesh Under-14 girls saw their preparations for April 25th evening's final against hosts Nepal turn into a nightmare in the wake of a devastating earthquake that claimed nearly 9,000 lives.

The young group, who had risen to prominence with the introduction of the Bangamata Primary School Gold Cup football tournament in 2011, saw their hopes of securing the title fade, although that was the last thing on their minds as a Bangladesh Air Force cargo plane whisked them back home.

An old saying goes that after the darkest night always comes the brightest day, and that day finally arrived after eight long months yesterday, as the same group clinched the AFC U-14 Regional Girls' Football Championship title with a 1-0 win over Nepal, this time the match was played at the Nepal Army Physical Training Centre in Kathmandu instead of the Dasarath Stadium, a portion of which was crushed during that devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

In a fiercely contested match, Marzia, who had earlier netted four goals in three matches, struck the decisive goal in the 16th minute to deliver Bangladesh their first international title at any level of women's football.

The Bangamata Primary School Gold Cup gave the perfect platform to the girls to become footballers and the players of the national U-14 women's team made it to the national squad after displaying their brilliant performances in the primary school Gold Cup in last two editions and Pran U-15 women's football tournament.

Bangladesh U-14 girls celebrate after winning the AFC Regional Football Championship with a 1-0 win against Nepal in Kathmandu yesterday, nearly eight months after their scheduled final was rocked by a devastating earthquake in the Himalayan Kingdom. Photo: AFP

Of the 18-member squad, 10 players came from Kalsindhur of Mymensingh, five players came from Rangpur while remaining three players are from Rajshahi, Shatkhira and Rangamati. Of the squad, nine players have also been in the training camp of the national women's team for the SA Games. 

Bangladesh were offered to share the championship jointly with Nepal without playing the match at an AFC meeting two months earlier, but Bangladesh refused to share the championship and the girls proved on the pitch that they were more superior than all the participating nations including India, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Iran and Sri Lanka.

"To be honest, I did not expect that the girls would show such bold performance against the hosts. I am really surprised after watch their performance. The margin could have been bigger had the forwards not squandered the opportunities," said coach Golam Rabbani Choton after the team's arrival at the Shah Jalal International Airport last night.

Choton, who has been involved in women's football since 2009, believes the success in Nepal will spread the women's football across the country.

“I just tried to follow the instruction what the sir [coach] gave me. We are very happy to become champions as we promised to win it before the match," said lone-scorer Marzia.