Bangladesh eye winning start in SAFF U-20

Bangladesh are looking to make a winning start in the ongoing SAFF U-20 Championship 2024 when they take on Sri Lanka in their first match on Tuesday at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal at 3:15 pm (BST).

Sri Lanka had a disappointing start, losing 0-1 to host nation Nepal in the tournament’s opening match on Sunday, with forward Nirajan Dhami scoring the decisive goal in the 23rd minute.

If the Islanders lose today’s match they will be eliminated from the ongoing meet while the three-time runners-up Bangladesh will confirm their spot for the semifinals with the hosts with one match to spare.

“I’ve earlier said that we come here to play the final and want to become champions. We will play our first match tomorrow, so it is very important to us. We want to make a winning start,” said Bangladesh head coach AKM Maruful Haque after their last preparation on Monday.

“We’ve watched Sri Lanka’s first match (against Nepal) and we have scouted them, tracked them and found their weaknesses and strengths. We made a game plan and strategy according to it,” he added.

“We have been training for 15 days and finally ended our preparation with the last session today (Monday). We want to make a good start, we want to win the first match. We are not taking any of our opponents lightly, we just want to focus on our game,” said Captain and goalkeeper Mehdi Hasan Srabon.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh and Nepal will play their last match of the three-team Group A on Thursday at the same venue at 3:15 pm (BST).