Japan’s Sumaya now belongs to Bangladesh
She can speak in Bangla quite well, but can’t write in it. However, she now has a deep connection with the Bangla language and Bangladesh. Although she was born and brought up in Japan’s Nagoya, Matsushima Sumaya is now a full-fledged Bangladeshi.
Sumaya made her debut for Bangladesh on last Thursday. The coach used her as a second half substitution in the FIFA friendly against Nepal at the Kamalapur Stadium and with that, one of Sumaya’s long-cherished dreams came true.
“From my childhood, I dreamt of playing for Bangladesh. My dream has come true. I got the opportunity to play for the Bangladesh national team. I’m really happy,” Sumaya, who has recently turned 23, said this at the Kamalapur Stadium.
Sumaya is the first foreigner to get an opportunity to play for the Bangladesh national women’s team. Everybody knows about Jamal Bhuiyan and Tariq Kazi in men’s football. Jamal and Tariq came from Denmark and Sweden respectively and have played for the Bangladesh team. Sumaya now has joined that list with her appearance for the women’s team.
She has a Bangladesh-Japan dual citizenship. So, there were no barriers for her to play for Bangladesh. All the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) had to do was to collect a No-objection Certificate from the Japan Football Association.
Sumaya is very skilled at football and had posted a clip of her footballing skills on Facebook. After seeing that, BFF called her in 2021. At that time, Sumaya was living in Dhaka with her Bangladeshi father and Japanese mother. One day, she came to the BFF headquarters with her mother Matsushima Tomomi. BFF asked her would she be interested to play for Bangladesh if she gets the chance. Sumaya immediately said, she would. After that, Bashundhara Kings recruited her. Sumaya played for the Kings in the last season of the Women’s Premier League and also scored a few goals.
Last year, she played for Maldivian club Dhivehi Sifainge alongside Sabina Khatun. After that, she got a call up to the national team without playing any age-level football. She was handed the jersey No.20 although she usually plays at the No.9 or No. 10 position. On Thursday too, the coach used her as a forward.
Even though she made her debut for the national team, Sumaya seemed a little disappointed, “I couldn’t perform well in the match. As I was playing for the first time, I was feeling a little nervous.” Sumaya is on the shier side and is not comfortable in front of the media. Still, during the women’s team’s training at the Kamalapur Stadium, she said, “I first came to Bangladesh in 2009-10. I’ve been at the national team’s camp at the BFF Bhaban for six months. Before that, when I was playing for the Bashundhara Kings, I used to go to training from home. But the national team’s camp is a little different. This experience has helped me improve.” Sumaya also said that her favourite player is Sabina.
Krishna Rani Sarkar, Tohura Khatun and Sanjida Akhter are part of the current women’s team and it won’t be easy for Sumaya to bypass all of them and make her place in the playing XI. Sumaya said, “They have many years’ experience. I didn’t play much football when I was in Nagoya. I came to Bangladesh to play football. I have to do better at training. I need to spend more time at the camp. My wish is to serve the Bangladesh team for a long time.”
No one from Sumaya’s family were present at the ground to see her debut for the national team. Her parents are not in Dhaka. But Sumaya has been living in Dhaka on a permanent basis for a few years. She has finished her first semester at a private university. But she hardly has the time to regularly attend classes at her university.
Bangladesh women’s team’s former coach Golam Rabbani Choton has seen Sumaya from up close. He also saw the match against Nepal. He said, “Sumaya played well in the league last season. She is physically strong. But there is a lot of difference between her and the likes of Sanjida and Tohura. The others have played at age-level, but Sumaya has directly entered the national team. So, she is behind in terms of experience. It will be a difficult task, but I hope that she will adjust with the team.”
Sumaya also wants to conquer this challenge and keep moving forward.
*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy