High flying Bangladesh will play hosts Nepal in a battle guaranteed to produce a new champion of the seven-nation 6th SAFF Women’s Championship in Kathmandu on Monday (September 19).
The final match of the 6th edition of the regional women’s soccer meet will kick-off at 5:15 pm Bangladesh time at the Dasharath Stadium (Rangasala) in the Nepalese capital.
Both Bangladesh and Nepal are not only unbeaten in the ongoing meet, they have won all their fixtures so far and not even conceded a single goal in the competition as yet, while putting a combined 31 goals past their opponents – Bangladesh scoring 20 in their four games, and Nepal scoring 11 in three games.
Bangladesh, previously a finalist in 2016, romped to their second final of the regional meet crushing Bhutan 8-0 goals in the first semifinal last Friday, while Nepal, losing finalists on four previous occasions, booked their seat by eliminating India, champions of all five previous editions.
While Bangladesh have been the more dazzling side during the current meet in the Himalayan nation, their record against Nepal will be something captain Sabina and her team must keep in mind to guard against complacency. Nepal have defeated Bangladesh on all three previous occasions they have met in the competition.
However, the Tigresses, which conceded six goals against India in the inaugural SAFF in Cox’s Bazar in 2010 and suffered five goals defeat against the neighboring India in the Islamabad SAFF in 2014, got rhythm in the ongoing meet by achieved a landmark of their first-ever victory against India after ten matches with a huge margin of 3-0 goals in the 3rd and last group match last week.
Earlier, Bangladesh qualified for the semifinal as the Group A champions with all-win run securing full nine points from straight three matches beating the Maldives by 3-0 goals in the first match and outplaying Pakistan by 6-0 goals in the 2nd match, apart from their historic victory against India.
Moreover, for the first time in the SAFF Women’s history, Bangladesh won four successive matches in the ongoing meet where Bangladesh captain Sabina Khatun dominating the scorer list netting eight goals in four matches, featuring two hattrick against Pakistan and Bhutan.
Bangladesh forward Siraj Jahan Swapna, who suffered injury in the last match against Bhutan, is still uncertain to play in Monday’s final.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh team had a gym session and Yoga in the team hotel Sunday morning and address a pre-final press conference at the match venue in the morning followed by a photo session.
Source: United News of Bangladesh