Five-star Nepal advance to final

KATHMANDU, JUL 28 -
Nepal thrashed Bangladesh 5-1 to storm into the final of the Second SAFF U-16 Championships on Saturday.

The hosts outplayed Bangladesh in all departments of the game in front of an electric crowd in what proved to be a one-sided semi final at the Dasharath Stadium.

The home team started the game on the front foot creating chances from the first whistle.  Nepal ’s initial dominance paid off in the 8th minute when Bimal Gharti Magar’s flick over the Bangladesh keeper rebounded off the cross bar and landed at  Shiv Subedi’s feet, who tapped in the first goal.

The hosts continued to dominate a weaker Bangladesh defence. Nepal doubled their lead in the 20th minute when Bimal who has been in fine form in the tournament headed home Amit Tamang’s cross.  With this goal the striker who has already made his debut in the national side took his tally to six goals.

Anjan Bista netted the third goal in the 23rd minute as he put the ball in the net after skipper Hemant Thapa Magar’s corner created a scramble in the box.

The nervous looking Bangladesh side attempted to come back into the game. Bangladesh won three consecutive corners later in the first half but Nepal i defence, spurred on by the huge home support managed to avert any danger to maintain their three goal lead.

Bangladesh made a better start in the second half when captain Mohammad Tutul Hossain Badsha fired a long range effort straight at goalkeeper Roman Rasaili.

But Nepal were gifted a fourth when defender Mohamad Atikuzzaman put Bikash Thapa’s cross into his own net in the 56th minute.

Bangladesh ’s misery continued when their custodian Mohammad Pappu Hossain mishandled a regular ball in the box to provide Sujan Limbu an easy goal three minutes later.

Bangladesh pulled a goal back against the run of play when Al Amin Tushar ran clear of the Nepal i defence which seemed to have switched off residing on a 5 goal lead.

Nepal created further goal scoring in the dying moments. Bimal’s header was cleared off the line by Mohammad S. Hossain while another header from the leading goal scorer hit the bar minutes later. A comprehensive 5-1 score line showed Nepal ’s supremacy according to coach Bal Gopal Maharjan.

“We were the better team in all departments today. I have been saying my team has the capability of winning the title and performances like this one back my words, “sated a proud Maharjan. “We got complacent after scoring 5 goals which lead to some defensive lapses. We must ensure that this will not happen in the final.”

On the other hand, disappointed Bangladesh coach Koster Rene criticised his team for making school boy errors.

“I think my players got nervous in front of such a big crowd. We also made some silly mistakes and our game slumped after that. But credit to Nepal for comprehensively beating us,” said Rene.

Nepal will now vie for the title with the winners of the semifinal between India and Afghanistan on Tuesday.

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