Spirited U-15s take on Nepal today
Defending champions Bangladesh will look to confirm a place in the final of the SAFF U-15 Championship when they take on Nepal in their third group match at the Kalyani Stadium in West Bengal today. The match will get underway at 3:30pm Bangladesh time.
Bangladesh and hosts India have six points from two matches each, three more than Nepal and Sri Lanka who played two and three matches respectively. Bhutan, the other team in the five-team event, have zero points from three matches.
A win over Nepal will ensure Bangladesh’s second successive final berth with the match against India remaining and the players are seemingly confident of crossing the Nepal hurdle after having posted two big wins over Bhutan (5-2) and Sri Lanka (7-1).
However, it will not be an easy match for Bangladesh, who were eliminated from the semifinals of the 2017 edition following a 4-2 defeat against Nepal despite playing excellent football in group stages.
Nepal started this year’s campaign with a 5-0 defeat against India before bouncing back strongly to inflict a 2-0 defeat on Sri Lanka.
“We are determined to give a better performance than the first two matches. Even though we have a few small problems, I think every player will be fit before the Nepal match. We will keep playing attacking football and leave the field with victory,” said captain Rakibul Islam, who scored a brilliant goal against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
The team management will bank on the striking pair of Al Amin Rahman and Al Mirad, who together scored nine out of Bangladesh’s 12 goals.
“It is always pleasing to get goals and I scored goals in both matches. We want to win for our nation and there is no alternative but to scoring goals. I want to do that because we want to make Bangladesh champions again,” said Al Mirad.
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