Dhaka – Defending champions Bangladesh will play their giant neighbor India in a do or die match to stay in the final race of the five-nation SAFF Under-15 Championship in the last league match on Thursday at 3:30 pm at the Kalyani Stadium in Nadia District of West Bengal, India.
Two times champions Bangladesh has no option but the win on the Thursday’s match against hosts India to stay in final race as they suffered a frustrating 1-4 goals maiden defeat against Nepal in the ongoing meet.
Nepal enjoying an upper hand advantage to reach the final as they will play lowly Bhutan in Thursday’s another match at 12:30 pm (BST) at the same venue.
India stormed into the final with one match to spare securing full nine points from straight three crushing Sri Lanka by 5-0 goals at the same venue on Tuesday.
In the last match against Nepal on Tuesday, Krisna Adhikari Yadav scored twice, Sugam Jimee and captain Pradip Lamsal scored one goal each for the Himalayan country while Md Badsha Mia netted the consolation goal for Bangladesh.
With this frustrating defeat, the final berth of two times champions Bangladesh became uncertain as they have a tough task to beat hosts India in the last group match on Thursday (August 29) to keep their final hope alive.
Ahead of Thursday’s vital match against India, Bangladesh team made practices and recovery session at the swimming pool on Wednesday. A team review session also arranged in the afternoon to evaluate the players’ performances.
Both Bangladesh and Nepal have collected six points from three matches with two wins and one defeat. But Bangladesh remained in the 2nd slot virtue of better goal difference (13-7=6) while Nepal in the 3rd slot with poor goal difference (6-6=0).
Earlier, holders Bangladesh made a flying start in the ongoing South Asian Junior soccer meet beating Bhutan by 5-2 goals in their first match on August 23 and crushing Sri Lanka by 7-1 goals on August 25.
Nepal started their campaign conceding 0-5 goals defeat against hosts India in their first match on August 21 but made a good comeback defeating Sri Lanka by 2-0 goals in their second match on August 23.UNB
