Bangladesh secure semifinal spot

Bangladesh moved into the SAFF U-18 Championship semifinals with a goalless draw against India in their final Group A fixture at the APF Stadium in Kathmandu yesterday. If it was merely a ploy to confirm a semifinal berth with a single point, Bangladesh executed their plans well.

Having registered a 3-0 win in their first match against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh required only a draw to progress. Bangladesh coach Andrew Peter Turner was glad that the team followed through on their plans and expressed satisfaction with their performance.

“I am pleased with the performance. India, before the play start, were favourites but we executed the plan extremely well,” said Turner after the match.

Turner also highly praised how hard the defenders worked saying that, ‘nothing goes through them’, while adding that the midfielders were outstanding, especially when it came to one-on-one tackles.

Turner hoped that his charges could repeat the performance in the semifinal.

“You never know what could happen if we repeat this performance,” he said.

Disaster struck early on for India as they lost first-choice goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill to injury when he clashed heads with a Bangladesh player during a long throw-in in just the fifth minute.

The first half lacked goalmouth action, barring the 36th minute when India’s Sumit Rathi came close to heading one in from a corner. In the second half, India started to create opportunities an could have taken the lead when Vikram Pratap Singh sent Ninthoinganba Meetei into the box with a long-ball in the 76th minute, however, Meetei was effectively closed down by a Bangladesh defender.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh only attempted a few aerial passes.

The semifinal will take place at the same venue on September 27 and the opponents will be decided through the last group match between India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The final is slated for September 29.