The two title favorites, Bangladesh and India are set to take on each other in the final of the SAFF Under-19 Women’s Championship 2024 at Bir Sreshtha Shaheed Siaphi Mostaka Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur Thursday evening.
The home side are slightly ahead on pen and paper after edging past India 1-0 in the opening round, thanks to Mosammat Sagorika’s 92nd-minute goal.
That victory secured Bangladesh the final spot with a game in hand as Saiful Bari Titu fielded his starting XI against Bhutan in the last match with nine players from the bench.
Yet it was no stress for the hosts who won the game comfortably 4-0 to conclude the first round on the top of the four-team table with maximum nine points.
India, who crushed Bhutan 10-0 in the first match, outplayed Nepal 4-0 in the last encounter to book the ticket for the final.
Sukla Dutta, the head coach of India team, said the visiting side did not have “revenge” in mind but are rather excited to face Bangladesh again in the final.
Bangladesh and India are the most common finalists in the U-18, U-19 and U-20 formats of SAFF competitions with the former winning thrice and the latter once.
The girls in red and green are the reigning champions in the U-19 format.
They beat the same opponents 1-0 in the 2021 edition in Dhaka.
Titu was not the coach of Bangladesh team on any of those occasions when Golam Rabbani Choton was the head coach of all women’s teams.
“I don’t feel the past much because I was not there at that time. This is a different tournament. The best team will win the final,” said Titu.
“We realized India are a strong opponent during the last meeting. It was a very competitive game. We have to admire that they are in the final and play our own game.”
Pooja is currently the top-scorer with four goals after netting a hat-trick against Bhutan while Neha scored a brace against comparatively stronger opponent Nepal.
These two players may cause trouble for Bangladesh defense while the hosts have an in-form striker Sagorika (three goals) who can make the difference once again.
The captains and coaches of the two sides attended a photo session with the trophy before the final training session at the match venue in the afternoon.
The title deciding encounter kicks off at 6pm Bangladesh time.