Rangpur, Thakurgaon reach finals

Thakurgaon and Rangpur set up a final clash in the JFA Cup U-14 National Women’s Football Championship by beating their respective semifinal opponents at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium yesterday.

Thakurgaon saw off defending champions Mymensigh with an 3-2 win in tiebreakers after regulation time ended in a 1-1 draw. Interestingly, Thakurgaon lost 3-0 to Mymensingh in the last edition’s final in 2017.

Shanti Akter gave Thakurgaon a 33-mintue lead but Ranjana equalized the margin in the 44th minute, forcing the match to be decided through a penalty shootout, where the three-time champions ulti-mately came up short.

In the day’s other match, Rangpur beat Magura 1-0 with Liza Begum scoring the all-important goal in the ninth minute to set up Friday’s final against Thakurgaon.