India reached the final of the six-nation First South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Under-19 Championship eliminating Bangladesh by 4-3 goals in sudden death session of the tie-breaker at ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Thursday, reports UNB.
India will play the final tomorrow (Saturday) at 3:30 pm against hosts Nepal, who made the final berth eliminating Afghanistan by 3-2 goals in the first semifinal Thursday at the same venue.
The 2nd semifinal match between India and Bangladesh was locked in a goalless position in the stipulated 90 minutes and the match directly rolled to tie-breaker session.
The fate of the match was decided through sudden death session of the tie- breaker as the match was again locked in 3-3 goals after first five shots.
In the tie-breaker, Masuk Miah Jony, Rohit Sarkar and Mannaf Rabby scored for Bangladesh while the remaining two attempts of Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohammad Emon travelled over the cross piece.
On the other hand, Shahbaz, Rohit Kumar and Gurshimrat of India converted the spot kicks correctly while the attempt of Lalram went outside and the other by Sarthak Gauli returned to play hitting side post.
In the sudden death session, Daniel of India scored from the first shot (4-3) while Rahmat Miah of Bangladesh sent the ball wide in the next attempt to be eliminated from the semifinal stage.
Earlier, Bangladesh managed the semifinal berth as the Group-A runners-up beating all-loser Bhutan by 2-0 goals in the first group match while they lost to hosts Nepal by 1-2 goals in the 2nd and last group match.
India smartly reached the semifinal as group champion with all win record beating Afghanistan by 2-0 goals in the first match and later defeated all-loser the Maldives by 3-0 goals in the 2nd and last group engagements.
Yellow cards: Istekharul Alam Shakil and Mannaf Rabby (Bangladesh).
Bangladesh U-19 team: Anisur Rahman, Rahmat Miah, Mohammad Emon, Tutul Hossain Badsha, Masuk Miah Jony (captain), Rohit Sarkar, Shahriar Bappy, Mannaf Rabby, Mohammad Ibrahim, Bishwanath Ghosh and Istekharul Alam Shakil.
