KATHMANDU, Aug 19: Nepal has ended its SAFF U-15 Girls’ Championship journey finishing in the fourth place after succumbing to a 4-3 penalty shootout loss at the hands of the host Bhutan on Saturday.
The match was pushed into penalty shootout after the game ended 2-2 in the regulated 90 minutes.
Nepal’s Saloni Magar, Saraswati Hamal and Preeti Rai scored, while Chandra Bhandari and Sabita Rana Magar missed. Likewise, Chiring Yangchen, Yashi Bidha, Chirring Laden and Sonam Lyamo scored for Bhutan.
Nepal suffers second straight loss in SAFF U-15
Earlier, Bhutan had taken the lead in the second minute of the match through Deki Yangnen, while Nepal’s Bhandari had pulled one back just after the start of the second half. Bhandari grabbed a brace in the 55th minute to give Nepal a comeback lead. But, soon, after just 11 minutes of taking the lead, Nepal conceded through Bidha.
Nepal, who had defeated Pakistan 4-0 in the first match of Group B, lost to Bangladesh 3-0 in t he second. Nepal entered the semifinals in virtue of the group runner-up, and lost 2-1 at the hands of India in the last four match.
Likewise, Bhutan had beaten Sri Lanka 6-0 in the first match, but despite losing to India in 1-0 in the second match, it entered the last four as the winner of Group A. Bhutan lost to Bangladesh in the semifinals.
Nepal had finished third with a win and two losses in 2017’s championship hosted by Bangladesh. A total of four teams including Nepal, India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka had participated in that edition.
A total of six teams took part this time after Pakistan and Sri Lanka announced their participation. The teams were divided into two groups and the top two teams from each group entered the last four.
