Bhutan will host the first edition of the SAFF Under-18 Women’s Championship, which begins on Friday.
SAFF Under-18 Women’s Championship is an international football competition for women under 18 national teams organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
The Under-18 dragon girls are busy preparing ahead of their first major international competition. The team arrived in Thimphu earlier this month from Gelegphu.
The Head Coan Sung Jae Lee said the girls could not be trained early and vigorously due to the bad ground and unfavourable weather condition in Gelegphu.
However, he is confident they will play better than the U-15 women’s national.
“First of all, these girls are the future footballers of the nation and I want them to get more experience for bigger games through such tournaments. Secondly, it is our home game and I want us to reach the semifinals for sure. And this time, I am hopeful for a better result than the U-15 girl’s result in the recent competition,” he said.
The girls are also optimistic. They hope to be able to put up a good performance despite their limited exposure to such tournaments.
“I think we have trained well and I believe we will be able to perform well,” Galey Wangmo, the team captain, said.
“But we are equally nervous as well as the SAFF under 18 championship is completely a new tournament for us. Nevertheless, I am expecting a good result and I also look forward to more support from our people,” Galey Wangmo added.
The Bhutanese team will play their first match against India at Changlimithang National Stadium on the opening day of the championship on Friday.
Six nations from South Asia region are taking part in the tournament, which ends on October 7.
