Bangladesh lose to Nepal in the semis

Holders Bangladesh’s bid to defend the title of the SAFF U-15 Championship came to an end in Nepal when they suffered a shocking 4-2 defeat to hosts Nepal in one of two semifinals at the ANFA Complex ground in Lalitpur today.

The boys in red and green put up the shadow of what they displayed in the first two matches against Nepal and the charges of Parvez Babu will certainly remember the defeat at the hands of Nepal for long, especially the way they conceded the first three goals.

All three goals were scored because of horrible fumbles from the defenders, who were incapable of resurrecting their past performances.

Nepalese Randip Paudel played a low ball from the left side and a Bangladesh defender’s miscued clearance fell in front of unmarked Aakash Budha Magar, who just tapped into the open net in the fifth minute before doubling Nepal's lead on half-hour mark after comical defending from Bangladesh defender and goalkeeper. The third goal came when Nazmul Biswas put the ball into his own net while clearing a regular cross from the right flank in the 64th minute.

Faisal Ahmed Fahim, who scored four goals in two matches, struck two successive goals within two minutes in the 72 nd and 73 rd minutes respectively to bring Bangladesh back in the game on 3-2.

Bangladesh pressed hard for the equaliser and created a couple of good chances but they could not find the back of the Nepal net and ended up concedeing the fourth goal six minutes into the stoppage time.

Bangladesh will now play Sunday’s third-place deciding match against Bhutan, who suffered a 3-0 defeat to favourite India in another semifinal at Halchowk Stadium.