Despite a brave performance in almost all the proceedings, Bangladesh suffered a fighting 0-1 goal defeat to upper ranked Islamic Republic of Iran in their second and ultimate group H match of AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers held today (Sunday) at Birshreshtha Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium in the city's Kamalapur.
 
The day's win saw Iran advance to the next round as the group champions with six points winning both their group two matches while Bangladesh remained at their previous credit of three points playing the same number of matches. 

Bangladesh had no alternative way to go to the next round in their must-win match and the girls in red and green applied their best effort creating a number of scoring chances in the proceeding, but they failed to convert any lack of proper finishing. 
 
At one stage it seemed the match was going to end in a tame goalless draw, but it was Iranian forward Negin Zandi who broke the heart of the local fans scoring the all-important goal in the 85th minute of the match.
 
Following a counter attack Zandi ran down and sent the ball home before the open net with a perfect angular shot from close range. 
  
Bangladesh however tried their best to stage a fight back in the match but could not convert any in the remaining proceeding. 
 
The Bangladesh eve team earlier showed impressive football against upper-ranked Turkmenistan winning their group opening by 4-0 goals held on Friday last.

On the other hand, Iran thrashed Turkmenistan 7-1 in their group opening match.

BDST: 2039 HRS, MAR 12, 2023
MSK