SAFF U-15 Champs: Bangladesh taste first defeat losing to Nepal 1-4
In the day’s other match, India stormed into the final crushing Sri Lanka by 5-0 goals at the same venue.
Defending champions Bangladesh tasted the first defeat in their 3rd match of the five-nation SAFF Under-15 Championship losing to Nepal by 1-4 goals at the Kalyani Stadium in Nadia District of West Bengal on Tuesday.
Krisna Adhikari Yadav scored twice, Sugam Jimee and captain Pradip Lamsal scored one goal each for the Himalayan country Nepal while Md Badsha Mia netted the consolation goal for Bangladesh.
In the SAFF U-15 Championship, Bangladesh and Nepal faced each other on five occasions where Nepal won four matches while Bangladesh won only one.
In the day’s other match, India stormed into the final crushing Sri Lanka by 5-0 goals at the same venue.
With the day’s 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.
Hosts India top the list with unbeaten run securing full nine points from straight three matches and reached final with one match to spare against Bangladesh.
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).
In remaining matches Thursday, Bangladesh will play hosts India at 3:30 pm while Nepal will play Bhutan at 12:30 pm at the same venue.
From the beginning of the day’s match, both Nepal and Bangladesh created some good chances with their attacking brand of football, but failed to manage any goal in the first half.
After the barren first half, substitute forward Krisna Adhikari Yadav opened account for Nepal in the 48th minute by a right-footed close range shot inside from the box (1-0).
In the 52nd minute, forward Sugam Jimee doubled the margin by a right-footed long-range shot outside from the box (2-0).
Bangladesh came alive and started to put pressure on their opponents with attacking football.
Bangladesh boys bagged its fruits in the 79th minute when their substitute Badsha Mia found the net by right-footed shot inside from the box (2-1).
But Nepal carried their domination and got another success as captain Pradip Lamsal further widened the margin scoring 3rd goal for his side in the 84th minute (3-1).
In the 88th minute, Krisna Adhikari Yadav sealed the fate of the match scoring his 2nd and the 4th goal Nepal (4-1).
Bangladesh coach expressed his dissatisfaction over the match and said, “We concede defeat due to some blander mistakes by our defenders. We tried to dominate over Nepal with attacking football, but all of our attempts were foiled by the defense line of Nepal.”
Meanwhile, 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.