Into the final in style

Skipper Shamsunnahar Jr scored a brilliant hat-trick to lead Bangladesh to the final of the SAFF Under-20 Women’s Championship 2023 as they thrashed Bhutan 5-0 at the Bir Shrestha Shaheed Sipahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium in the Kamalapur area of Dhaka on Tuesday.

Against Bhutan, the hosts got an early lead as Mst Aklima Khatun scored a beautiful goal by dribbling past a couple of Bhutan defenders in the 22nd minute of the game. Bangladesh were awarded a penalty just after the first goal for a foul inside the penalty area. Bangladeshi number 10, Ripa, failed to convert the chance into a second goal.

However, it did not take the hosts long to find their second goal as skipper Shamsunnahar scored a brilliant header from a corner kick with half an hour on the clock. She scored again in the 53rd minute of the game dribbling past the opposing goalkeeper. She completed her hat-trick in the 61st minute as she scored again from a counter-attack outpacing every Bhutan defender.

Aklima scored her second in the 60th minute of the game.

In their last league match, Bangladesh needed only a draw against Bhutan to make it to the final of the four-nation SAFF championship. But their final was almost ensured before their match even started as Nepal had already beaten India, thus they aimed to enter the final unbeaten, being at the top of the points table.

Bangladesh started the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the other finalists, Nepal, and drew the second match 0-0 with defending Champions India.

Nepal, on the other hand, did not start the tournament as they would have wanted, but they turned the tables to make an amazing comeback, winning back-to-back group stage matches to qualify for the final, knocking out one of the hot favourites in India to win the tournament.

In their match against India, Anjali Chand scored the first goal in the 48th minute. Preeti Rai and Amisha Karki scored in the later quarters to ensure India did not have a chance of turning the tables on them, while their defenders performed brilliantly to stop the Indian attackers.

Bangladesh will face Nepal in the final at the same venue at 7 PM on Thursday.