"We always believed we could do it," says Bangladesh’s Khandaker
Yangon: Bangladesh will join the elite of women’s football in Asia after achieving a historic first by reaching the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™ thanks to a 2-1 win against Myanmar on Wednesday.
The 2-2 draw between Turkmenistan and Bahrain confirmed the South Asian side’s spot in the Finals with a match to spare.Afeida Khandaker and her teammates had to dig deep in the final minutes at Thuwunna Stadium after Myanmar pulled a goal back, with the skipper drawing strength from a small but loud Bangladeshi support at the stadium.
“As a captain, the greatest achievement for me is bringing the women’s team to victory,” said Khandaker. “I really enjoyed that as a captain. I can truly say that. This victory with the girls was our target.“
I want to thank them (the fans) for the way they support us, and also thank the people around us for the way they encourage us.”
Ritu Porna opened the scoring in the 18th minute and followed that up with a wonderful long range strike in the 72nd minute.
Win Win’s goal in the 89th minute briefly threatened to change the narrative but Bangladesh regrouped to seal the win.
Building on their 7-0 win against Bahrain on Sunday, Bangladesh are assured of finishing top of Group C irrespective of the results from Saturday’s concluding round of matches with experienced midfielder Maria Manda feeling this is a sign of things to come.
“Very thankful for this win,” said Manda. “We know Myanmar are ranked higher than us but it was the belief of the team that we would achieve victory.
“We all want to play on a bigger stage, and we’re very happy that our performances have shown that.”
