Upbeat Bangladesh take on motivated Nepal in the final of the 6th edition of SAFF Women's Championship scheduled to be held on Monday at Dasharath Rangasala Stadium, Kathmandu, reports BSS.
The tournament's sixth edition will see a new champion in the history of SAFF and both the teams have expressed their high optimisms to win the title and look confident for their respective title charges.
Nepal beat India 1-0 in the semi-final while Bangladesh blanked the five-time champions 3-0 in the group stage. Having beaten the most successful side in the region, both will be keen to scribe their name on the prestigious silverware.
It will be difficult to predict the favourite as both the sides showed immense dominations over their oppositions en route to the final. None of the side is yet to concede a goal from four match each shows the level of their supremacy. Bangladesh decimated the four sides they met scoring 20 goals and although Nepal scored nine less than them in the same number of matches the hosts will feel an extra advantage- the roaring crowd- backing them as their 12th member.
The record of past meetings between the two also goes in favor of Nepal. Bangladesh and Nepal have met three times in the previous five SAFF championships. Nepalese have won all three occasions. The sides first met in the first SAFF Championship in Cox's Bazar back in 2010 with Nepal winning the match 3-0 against Bangladesh.
Bangladesh lost 1-0 to Nepal in the 2014 semi-final of the championship and in the third meeting in 2019 in the group stage, Nepal again won by 3-0.
Bangladesh earlier blanked Maldives by 3-0 in their group opening match, thrashed Pakistan 6-0 in their second match and defeated India by 3-0 goals to book their spot of semifinal as the group A champions.
The girls in red and green confirmed their spot for the grand finale after crushing Bhutan by 8-0 goals in the first semifinal.
While Nepal blanked Bhutan 4-0 in their group opening match and thrashed Sri Lanka 6-0 to secure semifinal as group B champions.
After that, Nepal edged past holders India by 1-0 goal in the second semifinal to confirm their final berth.
The match kicks off at 5.15 PM, Bangladesh Standard Time.
