‘No pressure’ for boys in red and green

Bangladesh coach Paul Smalley anticipates a closely contested affair as his charges are up against hosts India in the SAFF U-20 Championship final, scheduled to take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar tonight at BST 7:30pm.

Bangladesh had beaten India 2-1 earlier in the group stage and stormed into the all-important encounter with an unbeaten record.

"We reached the final according to our plan and have no pressure on us ahead of the final," said a confident Bangladesh captain, Tanvir Hossain, through a BFF video message.

Tanvir and Co may refuse to let pressure dictate terms, however, they would be desperate to flip the script this time around since the final of the previous edition of the tournament in Nepal in 2019, which featured the under-18s, had left the boys in red and green utterly dejected following a narrow 2-1 defeat to their upcoming opponents.