Sagorika magic propels Bangladesh girls to another SAFF title

Mosammat Sagorika scored an exquisite quadruple to drive Bangladesh to a 4-0 win against Nepal in the last match of the SAFF U-20 Women's Championship at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Monday, helping the imperious women's football team to yet another South Asian title.

The 17-year-old from Ranishangkail in Thakurgaon missed the last three matches of the four-team competition after receiving a red card during the team's feisty 3-2 win against the same opposition in the first round of the matches on July 13. The suspension seems to have fired up the striker, for everything she touched turned into gold at the Kings Arena.

The win reaffirmed the domination in women's age-group football for Bangladesh, who have now won seven out of 13 tournaments since the introduction of age-group competitions in this region in 2017.

The match started with a minute's silence in respect to the victims of the disastrous Air Force jet crash, which killed at least a score and injured more than a hundred in the capital earlier in the day.

The sombre atmosphere soon gave way to an uplifting mood as Bangladesh started the game in electric speed.

Having won all five of their round-robin matches, Bangladesh needed only a draw to retain the title, but coach Peter Butler took no chance against a dangerous Nepal side, picking his preferred starting XI for only the second time in the competition.

However, unlike the keenly-contested encounter decided by a stoppage-time goal by Trishna Rani Sarkar eight days ago, Bangladesh were thoroughly dominant in the virtual final on Monday. And Sagorika was at the centre of all the goalscoring action, right from the very beginning.

She was on the lookout for the opening goal as early as the second minute of the game, testing Nepal goalkeeper Sujata Tamang with a long-range effort. Three minutes later, she produced a brilliant glancing header, only for Anisha Rai to make a goalline clearance.

There was no stopping the Thakurgaon girl three minutes later as she rounded off Sujata before placing home with pinpoint accuracy following a through-ball from Sapna Rani.

Nepal were close to equalising on 19 minutes when goalkeeper Mile Akter made a meal of a regulation save, but Bangladesh survived the scare as a volley from Purnima Rai, the top scorer of the competition, came off the crossbar.

The home side were more dominant after the break as Sagorika doubled the lead six minutes after restart with a jaw-dropping effort. The 17-year-old latched on to a through-ball from Umehla Marma, pirouetted on her heels as she switched feet and unleashed an inch-perefect shot into the back of the net.

It took only seven more minutes for Sagorika to complete her second hattrick of the competition, chipping Nabiran Khatun's through-ball cleverly over the advancing Sujata.

Although Sujata foiled two more efforts from  Sagorika over the next 10 minutes, she eventually grabbed her fourth goal in the 74th minute with a powerful and precise shot from outside the box as Bangladesh wrapped up the win in front of 5000-strong crowd.