In what eventually turned out to be the dress rehearsal for the grand finale, visitors Bangladesh and hosts Nepal played out a goalless draw in the third and final group phase match at Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu Saturday.
Bangladesh had won their first match against Kyrgyzstan by a solitary goal and qualified for tomorrow's final after the latter and Nepal played out a stalemate in their game, but the home side still needed at least a point yesterday, which they duly did.
The men in red and green ended their single round robin campaign with highest four points, while Nepal and Kyrgyzstan finished second and third respectively with two and one point.
After the first half ended goalless, Bangladesh head coach Jamie Day made five changes, but the scoreline remained the same.
Bangladesh XI
Shahidul Alam Sohel, Mohammad Emon, Yeasin Arafat, Riyadul Hasan (Tutul Hossain Badshah), Mehedi Hasan, Jamal Bhuiyan (Habibur Rahman Sohag), Mohammad Abdullah, Manik Hossain Molla (Sohel Rana), Mahbubur Rahman Sufil, Sumon Reza (Mehedi Hasan 2), Rakib Hossain (Biplu Ahmed)
