Alpi Akhter, Shurovi Akhter Priti and Arpita Biswas scored apiece, as Bangladesh stormed into the final of the ongoing SAFF Under-16 Women’s Football Championship defeating India by 3-1 on Tuesday.
Held at the ANFA Football Complex, Kathmandu, Nepal, Bangladesh Under-16 National Women team outplayed their two rivals Nepal and India with winning two successive matches to seal the final spot and obtained six points.
Bangladesh, who began their campaign with 2-0 victory over the hosts Nepal, kept up the momentum with defeating India, one of the tough opponents.
The four-nation competition with involving Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan is taking place in round Robin League basis when two top teams of the points table will play the final, in this respect Bangladesh earned six full points from their two matches to move into the final as the first team.
Bangladesh will play their last match of the league phase against Bhutan on March 8 but the results of the match will not any problem for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh will play the final against the winners between India and Nepal when both the sides have already defeated Bhutan to earn three points each.
However, Alpi Akhter struck on ninth minute to lead Bangladesh when in the opening 45 minutes the Red and Green could not increase the tally.
India produced some pressure on Bangladesh at the early stage of the second half and also equalized the margin through Anushka on 54th minute following an attempt was returned after hitting the cross bar on 50th minute.
Bangladesh restored the lead after a long 36 minutes when Surovi Akhter Priti scored an excellent goal with a solo lead. Priti just edged past two of her markers with a beautiful sprint with the ball and finally just dodged the goalkeeper with a placing shot (2-1).
Rest of the time also Bangladesh women dominated the match, though their Indian counterparts tried hard to bounce back. But Bangladesh youngsters sealed the victory with the captain Arpita Biswas scored in the dying minute (3-1).