Dhaka – Vietnam will play the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the opening Group F match of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship at Bir Shreshta Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur on Saturday.The match will kick-off at 11:30 am.Two Middle East nations Lebanon and Bahrain will lock horn with each other in the other opening day’s match at 3:30 pm at the same venue.
Hosts Bangladesh, which were placed in Group F of the championship along with the UAE, Vietnam, Bahrain and Lebanon, will play their first match against Bahrain on September 17 at 3:30 pm.
They will meet Lebanon on September 19 at 11:30 am, the UAE on September 21 at 3:30 pm and Vietnam in the last group match on September 23 at 3:30 pm.
In a pre-tournament press conference at BFF office on Friday, head coach and captains of all participating teams promised to play good football terming Vietnam and hosts Bangladesh as favorites.
Head Coach of Vietnam Nguiyen Thi Mai Lan, Captain Thi Hoa, Head Coach UAE Houriya Al Taheri, Head Coach of Lebanon Hagop Demirdjias, Captain Rida Wahhab, Head Coach of Bahrain Khaled Hasan, Head Coach of Bangladesh Golam Rabbani Chotan and Captain Maria Manda also spoke on the occasion.
Meanwhile, the AFC made some changes in their previous format. Six group champion teams along with two best group runners-up will play in the eight-team 2nd round in two groups.
Later, four top teams of the 2nd round will play in the eight-team title deciding final round in Bangkok alongside North Korea, South Korea, Japan and hosts Thailand.UNB
