Nepal vs Bangladesh: Do-or-die for Nepal

Nepal U-20 women’s football team will play their last match of the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship against hosts Bangladesh — and it’s basically a final for both.

Even though the match is officially the final round of the round-robin league, the title will be decided based on this clash. Nepal must beat Bangladesh to lift the trophy. A draw is enough for Bangladesh to become champions.

Bangladesh are on top with 15 points from 5 wins. Nepal are second with 12 points from 4 wins and 1 loss — that loss came against Bangladesh in their previous meeting.

What Nepal needs to do

To win the title, Nepal must beat Bangladesh. If Nepal win by two goals, they will directly become champions. If they win by just one goal, both teams will be tied on points and goal difference will decide the title.

Nepal have scored 30 goals and conceded 4. Bangladesh have scored 24 and also conceded 4. Head-to-head, Bangladesh are ahead after beating Nepal 3-2 earlier in the tournament.

If Nepal beat Bangladesh 2-0 or by any two-goal margin, they win the title. If they win 1-0, the total goal difference will still favor Nepal — so they will likely be champions.

Nepal’s performance so far

Nepal started the tournament by beating Bhutan 6-1, then lost to Bangladesh 3-2. Since then, they’ve kept 3 clean sheets: beating Sri Lanka twice 7-0, and thrashing Bhutan 8-0.

Captain Birsana Chaudhary said the team is fully focused on winning the title. “We came here to become champions, and we will give everything for that. If we play like we did against Bhutan, we can beat Bangladesh too,” she said.

Bangladesh’s journey

Bangladesh have also been strong. They beat Sri Lanka 9-1 in the first match, then beat Nepal 3-2, Bhutan 4-1, Bhutan again 3-0, and Sri Lanka 5-0. They have conceded goals in 3 of their matches.

In the earlier match against Nepal, Bangladesh led 2-0 in the first half. But after both teams got a red card in the second half, Nepal fought back to make it 2-2. However, Bangladesh scored in the final moments of injury time to win 3-2.

Coach’s strategy

Nepal head coach Yam Prasad Gurung said they are reviewing the last match against Bangladesh and preparing a new strategy. “We will fix what went wrong in the first game and make tactical changes,” he said.

Players like Purnima Rai and Mina Deuba have been in great form, supported well by Senu Pariyar, Barsha Oli, and Sukriya Miya. Captain Birsana, who plays in midfield, said Nepal’s strikers are strong but the team still needs to improve in midfield and defense.

Nepal vs Bangladesh will kick off at 6:45 PM (Nepal time) on Monday at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka.