SAFF Championship Seems Far Off As Bangladesh Host Nepal

The attitude that dominated the Bangladesh women's football squad when they last competed in an international match is very different from the one that does so now

A confident Bangladesh team faced Nepal in the SAFF Championship final on September 19 in Kathmandu after defeating South Asian superpower India in the group rounds. A nationwide jubilation was sparked as Golam Rabbani Choton's team romped to the first championship in the area with a convincing 3-1 victory.

Nearly ten months after that day, Bangladesh will face Nepal once more today in the first of two games in a FIFA friendly series in Dhaka. However, the team doesn't seem particularly excited about the match; instead, there is a definite sense of melancholy and anxiety among the players.

The team that led Bangladesh to their historic first SAFF title has been decimated by the departure of two key players – striker Sirat Jahan Swapna and centre-back Akhi Khatun as a consequence of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) failing to arrange a single international match for them and failing to meet their demands for a franchise league and salary raise.

Anuching Mogini, another defender, was also earlier dispelled from the camp over poor performance while Shamsunnahar Jr and Sajeda Akter -- two other members of that squad -- are out of reckoning due to sickness.

The biggest drawback for the team, though, is that they will be playing without their long-time head coach Golam Rabbani Choton who recently resigned from the BFF job. In his absence and with technical director Paul Smalley not involving himself over 'negotiation of contract', the team is morally down and face a real challenge against the team from the Himalayas, whom they had beaten only that one time in nine matches, losing six times and drawing on two other occasions.

Understandably, the pre-match press conference over the two FIFA friendly matches -- the first off which will kick off at 5:30pm today at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur -- concentrated more on the team environment and its weaknesses rather than its strengths.

Mahbubur Rahman Litu, a long-term understudy of Choton, has been handed the responsibility to guide the team as the BFF looks for a new foreign coach.

"Every family goes through troubled times. We have also gone through a crisis, but I wanted to stitch the whole team together. Myself and the players have all been hungry for this match," Litu said, trying to put a positive spin on things.

"The team at SAFF Championship was a complete one, but we will try to do our best despite the absentees," Litu added.

Captain Sabina Khatun said they will accept the reality that Choton, whom she said was like a family member, is no longer with them.

However, she felt the long gap in match practice might have an impact on performance.

"There is an obvious difference between being in training and playing matches. We would probably see some difference in performance after the first match," Sabina said.

While Bangladesh team lamenting over the absentees, the Nepal team, which played four competitive matches since the SAFF Championship, will have two of their best players – Sabitra Bhandari and Preeti Rai, both of whom missed the SAFF final through injury and sickness.

One positive for the home team is that they will be staying at a five-star hotel in Dhaka for the first time, in an attempt from the federation to cheer them up. The BFF has also made entry for spectators into the stadium free to make sure the home team receive maximum support.