Experiment over, Butler ready for title fight

Having experimented quite a bit with his playing XI throughout the campaign, Bangladesh coach Peter Butler is expected to field a strong starting XI against Nepal in the title-deciding last match of the SAFF U-20 Women's Championship, scheduled to kick off at 7:00pm today at the Bashundhara Kings Arena.

Butler has said time and again that results in this tournament mattered little to him as he wanted to give exposure to his players for bigger platforms. Speaking after the win against Sri Lanka in their penultimate fixture on Saturday, Butler said: "The title means nothing to me. I'm just here to develop players. If the title means something to certain people's egos, etc, that's fine. But I'm here to develop players and build a team for AFC (U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers in August) and onwards and upwards for the future."

Butler has given all 23 of his players some game time during the first five matches of this four-team competition, all of which his charges have won.

However, it was the first match against Nepal which gave the Englishman plenty of food for thought as Bangladesh eked out a hard-fought 3-2 win, thanks to a stoppage-time goal from Trishna Rani Sarkar.

In fact, it was the only match of the competition that Butler had fielded a first-choice starting XI, allowing the team to take a 2-0 lead in the first half. He took off some of his key players after the break and the mountaineers made a match out of it.

That victory has put the hosts in an advantageous position as Butler's charges will need only a draw to retain the title, coming hot on the heels of a historic Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign.

Bangladesh players go through a light stretching session at the team hotel ahead of the title-decider against Nepal. Photo: BFF

Nepal, on the other hand, have been the most prolific side in the tournament so far, enjoying a positive goal-difference of 30 compared to Bangladesh's 24. This statistic means Nepal will win the title if they can beat Bangladesh by any margin as the overall points of the two sides will become equal on 15 and both sides will have one win each against the other.

The Bangladesh coach is wary of the threat from this high-scoring Nepal side ahead of the title-decider.

"Nepal are a good side. They're higher ranked than us in the women's rankings…They've got good players. They've shown they can score goals. I've got the utmost respects for them," Butler said after the Sri Lanka win.

"If some of those girls in that dressing room of mine think they're in for an easy ride, they're in for the shock of their lives," warned the 58-year-old coach, who would be relieved to have Mosammat Sagorika, his first-choice striker, back in the side following a three-match suspension.