Bangladesh is at the top with 12 points while Nepal is second with 9 points
As the Women's SAFF U-20 Championship moves towards the end, as expected, the final match of the tournament will decide the title. For now, Bangladesh has a strong grip on the title. Nepal is following the domestic team.
Nepal first beat Sri Lanka 7-0 on Thursday in the tournament being held in Dhaka.
Bangladesh then defeated Bhutan 3-0. After this result, Bangladesh reached the top spot with 12 points with their fourth win in a row. Nepal is second with 9 points with 3 wins. Nepal's only defeat was against Bangladesh. Now Nepal will face Bhutan and Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in the ongoing tournament based on double round robin. On the final day of the
tournament, Bhutan and Sri Lanka will first face each other. Then it will be the turn of the same unannounced final. Kusum Khatiwada and Samiksha Magar scored 2 goals each to give Nepal an easy win in the first match of the day at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka. Poornima Rai, Saritakumari Nath and Birsna Chaudhary scored 1 each. Birsna's goal was made possible by penalty.
Anisha Rai missed a goal for Nepal in another penalty opportunity. In Bangladesh's victory over Bhutan, Shrimoti Trishna Rani scored 2 goals and Sapna Rani scored the other goal. Bhutan is in third place with 3 points with one win and three losses. Sri Lanka have lost all four matches they have played so far. The team is at the bottom of the four participating teams.
Reacting after the victory over Sri Lanka, Yam Gurung, the head coach of the Nepalese team, said, 'We are now in a position of 9 points. Our game was good today, we had more control over the ball. The forward attack was also more. Now the team is building opportunities. This has made it difficult for the opposition to distinguish who is the forward and who is the defensive player.'
He admitted that the game against Bangladesh will be decisive and said that the strategy will be prepared accordingly for the next game. Meena Deuba, the main player of the team, claimed that because the team played as one, it was an easy victory over Sri Lanka. She said, "The confidence to win in the next match, no matter who the opponent is, has increased. We are also capable of this.'
