Nepal in SAFF final despite draw
Nepal secured a place in the SAFF Football Championship final despite their last league match of the tournament against Bangladesh ending in a thrilling 1-1 draw at the National Stadium in the Maldives yesterday.
Nepal completed the league phase of the tournament with a total of seven points having recorded two victories, losing one and another match ending in a draw.
Nepal’s two victories in this tournament were recorded against the Maldives (1-0) and Sri Lanka (3-2) while they lost to India (0-1) in the third outing.
It was Bangladesh who took the lead in the match with S. Reza scoring an early goal in the ninth minute of play to give his side a 1-0 lead at half time.
However, Nepal fought hard in search of the equaliser and they were awarded a penalty in the 88th minute, which was converted by Anjan Bista to make it 1-1 at the final whistle.