Nepal skipper Anjana Rana Magar takes a selfie with the crowd at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur after the visitors held Bangladesh to a goalless draw in their SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship fixture.

PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

Sports Reporter

In a rematch of last edition’s final, hosts Bangladesh were held to a goalless draw by a resolute Nepal side in their SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship fixture at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.

While Bangladesh won that match 1-0 following a 2-1 win against the same opposition in the group stages three years ago in Bhutan, at home soil, the girls in red and green failed to break the team from the Himalayan nation to share the spoils of a goalless draw.

The home side, champions from the inaugural edition in 2018 when the event was an under-18 affair, started brightly as centre-back Akhi Khatun rattled the post from the top of the box 90 seconds into the match.

Playing in a 4-3-3 formation, the hosts completely dominated possession and looked like the only side worth scoring a goal, but the Nepalese defence held firm and reduced Bangladesh attacks mostly to shots from distance.

Shamsunnahar Jr tried a bicycle kick on skipper Maria Manda’s cross on 15 minutes, but her effort was too tame to test Anjana Rana Magar at Nepal goal.

Magar, also the captain of the Nepal team, was solid between the sticks as she dealt comfortably with a number of set-pieces from Manda.

Shamsunnahar Jr, playing as a second striker behind Tohura Khatun, was through on goal on a long-ball from Akhi Khatun three minutes later, but Magar was quickly on to the ball.

The Nepal goalie was called into action again on 32 minutes when she was forced to palm away Shamsunnahar Jr’s curling effort for a corner.

Bangladesh’s best chance of the game came nine minutes after restart when Rituporna Chakma had a shot on target from inside the box, only to be cleared off the line by Nepal defender Bimala BK.

Magar produced a brilliant fingertip save on a superb Monika Chakma effort from outside the box three minutes before the end of regulation time as the hosts’ hopes of a winning start evaporated.

Bhutan thrash Sri Lanka

In the first match of the tournament earlier, Bhutan thrashed Sri Lanka 5-0 after having led by four goals in the first half.

Pema Yangzom scored the first two goals in the 21st and 23rd minutes before Tshering Choden got the third for Bhutan in the 28th minute.

Sonam Lhamo added a fourth at the stroke of half-time before an own goal from T Sivaneshwaran in the 85th minute wrapped up a convincing win for the fourth-placed team from the last edition.