Girls set up final against Nepal

Bangladesh dispatched Bhutan 4-0 in the second semifinal of the SAFF U-18 Women's Championship yesterday to set up a final clash against Nepal.

The girls in green scored two goals in each half at the Changlimithang Stadium, with strikes from Sanjida Akter, Misrat Jahan Mousumi, Krishna Rani Sarker and Shamsunnahar leading to a rather comfortable victory. Although it was not a vintage performance by Golam Rabbani Choton's charges, they did enough to see off the hosts and seal the final berth, following in the footsteps of the under-15 team who had played the final of the SAFF U-15 Women's Championship at this very ground two months ago.

Bangladesh will play the final against Nepal tomorrow, with the latter having beaten India in penalty shootout in the first semifinal earlier yesterday. The final will be a rematch of the group stage meeting between the two sides where Bangladesh had registered a 2-1 victory.

Bangladesh players celebrate their fourth goal against Bhutan in their SAFF U-18 Women's Championship semifinal at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu yesterday. Bangladesh will play against Nepal in the final tomorrow. Photo: BFF

Despite playing without injured prolific striker Sirat Jahan Shopna, Bangladesh took only two minutes to open their account as Sanjida scored with a floated delivery from the right edge of the box finding the net over the Bhutan goalkeeper's head.

However, the girls in green struggled to break the opposition defence and were lucky not to concede the equaliser in the 44th minute when they failed to clear a corner with the goalkeeper was completely out of position, but the shot from a Bhutan forward missed the target by a distance.

Bangladesh, though, doubled the lead in the third minute of stoppage time of the first half with stand-in-skipper Mousumi poking home from a goalmouth melee after the Bhutan goalkeeper only half-cleared a corner.

Krishna made it 3-0 on the hour-mark, with a perfect poacher's goal as she broke the offside trap and slid home past the goalkeeper. The victory was wrapped up by Shamsunnahar in the 86th minute as she confidently converted a spot-kick as the hosts struggled to keep up with their opposition's fitness and finesse.

Earlier, Nepal edged favourites India 3-1 in penalty shootout after regulation time ended 1-1. Rashmi Kumari Shising had given Nepal the lead in the 15th minute, but Tudu Jabamani equalised for India 17 minutes after the break. As there were no goals further from either side, the match rolled into tiebreakers where the Nepal goalkeeper became the hero with two saves and a conversion from the spot to stun the regional powerhouse.