Kathmandu, Sept 25: Nepal has booked a place in the semi-finals of the U-19 SAFF football championship. In match held today at Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu, Nepal defeated the Maldives by 4-1 to reach the last four.
For the hosts, Sameer Tamang scored two goals while Prashant Laksham and Nirajan Dhami scored one goal each.
Lion Rashid scored the only goal for the Maldives.
Having taken a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game, Nepal scored two more goals in the second half as well. In the 17th minute of the game, Nepal’s Prashant scored and gave Nepal an early lead. He hit the ball from about 30 yards straight into the net.
Likewise, Nepal took the second lead in the 30th minute of the game. Samir doubled Nepal’s lead. In the 58th minute of the game, Lion Rashid of Maldives scored a goal and brought the game to a 2-1 position. But in the 88th minute, Nirajan Dhami scored again and brought Nepal close to victory. Then Sameer scored his second personal goal in extra time of the second half of the game.
Nepal and Pakistan have reached the semi-finals from Group A while the Maldives is out of the tournament.
India defeats Bhutan
In the second match on Monday evening as part of U-19 SAFF, Bhutan was defeated even after taking the first lead.
In the 20th minute of the game, Jigme Nangmel gave Bhutan the lead from a free kick by captain Pema Gangpo.
But in the 36th minute, Goyamsar Goyari scored a goal and brought India equal. In the 64th minute of the first half, India’s Yash Chikro’s corner was scored by Ricky Metai Hobham from outside the penalty box.
After that, both teams created several opportunities to score but failed.
According to the result, Bhutanese youth team will also play semi-final and face Pakistani youth team.
