June 6, 2025
DHAKA – Bangladesh women’s football team captain Afeida Khandokar believes their recent matches against Jordan and Indonesia provided crucial experience ahead of the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers which will run from June 29 to July 5.
“The experience we gained against Jordan and Indonesia, both much higher-ranked teams than Bangladesh, is valuable because we rarely get opportunities to face opponents outside of South Asia,” Afeida told The Daily Star upon the team’s return from Jordan on Thursday afternoon.
“These matches gave us insights into how these teams play and how we need to play against them when we play the Asian Cup Qualifiers,” the centre-back added.
Under the guidance of English coach Peter Butler, Bangladesh, ranked 133rd in FIFA rankings, held 94th-ranked Indonesia to a goalless draw, and then came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw against 74th-ranked Jordan.
“We went into both matches with the aim to win, so although we drew, it’s still a significant achievement given the rankings of the opponents,” said Afeida.
She acknowledged the physical advantage of the opponents but praised her team’s resilience.
“Jordan’s players were physically stronger, and we conceded early in the fourth minute, but we never gave up. We bounced back twice because we knew the game could change at any moment if we kept pushing.”
The results will undoubtedly lift the mood in the Bangladesh camp and provide much-needed confidence as the last time they played international matches, they lost back-to-back encounters by 3-1 margins against the UAE in March. The squad then, however, was mostly made up of under-20 players as 18 senior players were left out after they called for a boycott of Butler. But this time, most of the seniors were called back and they played integral roles in bringing out positive results. There was also a stark improvement in how the team played.
“The team that played against the UAE was made up mostly of under-20 players who are younger, and less experienced,” Afeida explained. “This current squad has been playing together for a long time, which made a big difference. However, players who were new to the national setup during the UAE matches learned a lot from those games, and that experience will help them in the future.”