Sports

Nepal have entered the SAFF U-17 Championship semi-finals after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Bhutan in a group match.

The victory at Colombo’s Racecourse International Stadium on Wednesday evening guaranteed Nepal a place in the last four from Group B as Bhutan had lost 3-0 to India in their opening game last Monday. 

In the match held under floodlights, Bhutan threw everything they had got at Nepal in a desperate bid to stay in the competition. They put up a great fight, putting relentless pressure on the Nepali defence.

However, after weathering the initial Bhutanese storm, Nepal began to look sharper in the middle with lightning counter-attacks. In the 13th minute, Unish Budathoki opened the scoring to give Nepal a 1-0 lead.

Both the teams looked on even keel and they went into the break with Nepal preserving the slender advantage.

Nepal resumed the game with more verve at the start of the second half. And Sementa Thapa found the back of the net in the 57th minute to make it 2-0.

Bhutan, however, declined to give up and kept coming back to probe Nepali defenders. In the 68th minute, Jetsune Dorji pulled one back for the dragon kingdom to keep their hopes alive. But Nepal held firm for the remaining minutes of the match, showing Bhutan the exit door.

Nepal can top the group if they beat the defending champions India on Friday. The match begins at 3:45pm NST.

Keeping a close eye on that Group B encounter are Group A leaders Bangladesh. The losing side of that tie will be Bangladesh’s opposition in the tournament’s first semi-final on Monday.