On the second day of their camp, Bangladesh’s women’s football team trained at Sydney’s Jubilee Stadium. The small yet picturesque venue, used for both football and rugby, features a soft, immaculate green pitch. Ahead of the main tournament, players including Ritu parna and Sheuli Azim put in intensive sessions on Saturday.
Back home, the team usually trains on the turf of Kamalapur’s Bir Sreshtho Shaheed Sipahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium, occasionally at Dhaka Stadium, and sometimes at the Korean EPZ in Chittagong. None of these venues, however, match the quality of Jubilee Stadium, a fact Sheuli openly acknowledged.
“The facilities here are excellent, especially the pitch. It’s hard to explain how good it is. If we had pitches like this back home, our preparation could have been even better. Every field here is far superior to what we have in Bangladesh,” she said.
Prior to this, the team played a practice match on the training grounds of Western Sydney Wanderers. In the closed-door fixture, they drew 1-1 against the home side. The game offered a chance to correct previous mistakes, which the defenders focused on in subsequent training sessions, Sheuli added.
“Since arriving here, we’ve had the chance to play a match. Against Western Sydney Wanderers, we identified gaps and errors, and our coach has been working with us to improve them. I hope we can give our best,” she explained.
Bangladesh’s defence played a key role in their dominant Women’s SAFF Championship campaign, conceding just two goals in four matches.
In the Asian Cup, the backline faces a stern test against nine-time champions China and three-time winners North Korea. Drawing on the experience from the friendly match, Shiuli expressed optimism about performing under pressure.
“Playing against a club side from a country like Australia before the World Cup gave us a great opportunity to gauge our strength. In the last few days of training, we have worked hard to correct the mistakes we made in that match,” she said.
