SAFF Under-19: Indian women’s team reached the final in the second half blitz

Dhaka (Uttam Hindu News): India defeated Nepal 4-0 in their final round-robin match at the BSSSM stadium on Tuesday to book their place in the final of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Under-19 Women’s Championship. India will now face host and defending champions Bangladesh in the final to be played on Thursday. The Young Tigresses had earlier won their first match against Bhutan 10–0, followed by a 0–1 defeat against Bangladesh. After a goalless first half, the Indian girls performed brilliantly in the second session, scoring four goals. The Indian forward line of Neha, Sibani Devi and Sulanjana Raul repeatedly broke the opponent’s defense at intervals, forcing Nepal to play the second half.

Winger Neha performed well, including two goals in the second half, while Sulanjana Raul and substitute Cindy Temrutpui Kolani scored two late goals to ensure India’s easy victory. The young Tigresses started on the front foot, with most of their attacks coming from the left side, where Neha used her pace to take the lead. His crosses were a constant threat to the Nepal defence, which they had to work hard to deal with.

Nepal goalkeeper Leela Joshi’s inability to deal with India’s centers also contributed to the general overload in the box, as she dropped the ball three times in the opening exchanges. Sulanjana Raul, Sibani Devi and Pooja, who were close on three occasions, failed to take advantage of the chances. Nepal’s right wing Senu Pariyar had the only chance of the afternoon when she was put in behind the Indian defence, but she did not have enough angle to move forward with intent to shoot; Ultimately he was evicted.

India managed to find the breakthrough after the restart in the 54th minute when Sibani’s left-footed cross found Neha at the far post as she pushed it past the keeper to score from an extremely narrow angle. That goal gave a lot of confidence to India, as there were more attacks on Nepal’s goal. Pooja entered the box from the right side, beat Nepal goalkeeper Joshi and passed to Neha, who missed the target. Raul had a shot cleared off the line by Divya Yasmali Magar on the hour mark.

As the ball came off the crossbar, Neha fired a blast from inside the box and Sibani sent her shot into the stands from the rebound. Neha’s persistence paid off for the second time when, with 10 minutes of regulation time left on the clock, she received a pass from substitute Arina Devi, who did well to side-step her own marker. However, instead of crossing, Neha fired her effort from outside the box as the ball curled into the top corner. Raúl, who had plenty of chances throughout the match, eventually scored his third goal of the game in the 85th minute. The movement, as usual, started with a Neha cross which Sibanye found at the far post. He sent it back across the face of goal with his first touch. Cindy, who replaced Raul, scored the fourth goal in injury time.