Coaches from Bangladesh and Nepal said they were expecting a competitive match when the two sides meet in the first of the two friendlies at Dasharath Stadium on Thursday.

In the pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton and Nepal's head coach Gary Phillips thanked the football associations for organizing the friendlies in such challenging times.

"Our team has many new players aged around 16-18 years and knows each other well. I hope these matches will be a good preparation for the upcoming AFC competition," said coach Choton referring to the upcoming 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification.

"Nepal is a very strong and competitive team and we expect a competitive game," he added.

When asked about Sabitra Bhandari's absence, coach Choton praised Bhandari's qualities. "It's sad she is not playing and I hope the defenders are going to be relieved in her absence," he said.

Bangladesh team captain Sabina Khatun said they were prepared for the game and getting ready for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification. "Most of the players have come from age-based teams and have good bonding with each other. They are ready for the game which I hope is going to be a tough one," Sabina said.

Nepal's head coach Phillips said playing such games in the Covid-19 pandemic was an opportunity to promote women's football. "Besides it also gives us the opportunity to prepare for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification. We have been in the closed camp for around six weeks with Covid-19 and injury interrupting our preparations," he said.  

"We are now on our way and making good progress and these games against Bangladesh will give us a really good idea about where we are in our preparations," he added.

The first match will be played on September 9 at Dasharath Stadium while the second on September 12. Both the matches will kick-off at 5 pm.

This news was published on ANFA official website on 2021-09-08 and for original news link, click here