If Nepali football believes in one fact, it will not be difficult to get a favorable result in the match against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
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Who will be Nepal's preferred opponent when it enters the semi-finals of the SAFF Women's Championship? India or Bangladesh. This question will be the main one when Nepal faces Sri Lanka on Sunday in its final match of the group stage of the competition. It should not be forgotten that Nepal has not yet reached the semi-finals from Group 'A'. All possibilities are open in the group that includes Bhutan.
But Nepali football should believe in one more fact: it will not be difficult to get a favorable result against Sri Lanka. If this is not the case, it will be an unacceptable result. For now, Bhutan is ahead in this group with 3 points from two games. Nepal, which has played one game, also has 3 points. Nepal had defeated Bhutan 1-0 in its first match. Nepal won with Geeta Rana's 'lucky' goal.
This victory against Bhutan was a struggle in a way. Then Bhutan easily defeated Sri Lanka 4-0. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is without points. In this case, Nepal can expect a win over Sri Lanka. Nepali coach Navin Neupon also said not to worry too much even if they do not get the victory they expected against Bhutan. His argument was that Nepal had to play the first match before getting used to the weather in Goa.
Now the team has had five days of rest and training. All the matches of the league stage will be concluded on Sunday. Two-time defending champions Bangladesh and India will also face each other on that day. The same result will determine the winner of Group 'B'. For now, both teams have reached the semi-finals. Both had defeated Maldives. Before that, Nepal's direct attention should be focused on the match against Sri Lanka.
This match may also be an opportunity for Nepal to experiment. Nepal will probably not take risks in the first half and will try to take the lead as soon as possible. If this situation is ready, Nepal can trust its new players and field a changed team. Coach Neupane will not hesitate to do this. Therefore, it makes sense for Nepal to go ahead with the first half hour of the match against Sri Lanka.
10 games, 10 wins
In women's football, Sri Lanka is a team for Nepal, which has won only in all the teams it has played against. Nepal has faced Sri Lanka ten times in three competitions so far. They have won all 10 games. Nepal has faced Sri Lanka three times in women's football at the South Asian Games. The results are 8-1, 4-0 and 1-0.
It has played six times in the Women's SAFF Championship. The margin of victory over Sri Lanka in those matches is 3–0, 3–0, 1–0, 4–0, 6–0 and 6–0. In that sense, Nepal has not conceded a single goal against Sri Lanka in this tournament. Nepal's last meeting with Sri Lanka was a year ago in the Women's Asia Cup qualifiers. Nepal won that match in Tashkent 8–0.
So the situation so far is 10 matches, Nepal's victory in 10. And a total of 44 goals against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has reached the semi-finals twice in the history of the tournament. But since 2016, Sri Lanka's journey has not been able to advance beyond the league stage. In such a situation, Nepal will probably not have a difficult time in the next match, history is on Nepal's side. But the Nepali team is diplomatically saying, we will not take the match against Sri Lanka easy.
Bangladesh's struggle
India easily defeated Maldives 11–0 in the first match of Group 'B'. This was an unacceptable result for Maldives. But the same team had performed brilliantly against Bangladesh. However, they lost 4-2 in that match. In a way, it was like a great comeback for the Maldives team. The Bangladeshi media has also criticized their team for that match.
They argue that the victory over Maldives was not satisfactory. For now, both India and Bangladesh are on equal 3 points. India is ahead on goal difference and is probably in a favorable position to win the group. In this case, Nepal's possible semi-final opponent could be Bangladesh. Therefore, the two matches on the last day of the league stage will be really exciting, from the point of view of the importance of the result.
