Bangladesh clinch SAFF U-16 title
Bangladesh boys won their first-ever title of the SAFF Under-16 football championship, beating India by a 4-2 margin in the tiebreaker at Sylhet Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The hosts emerged the new champions with an all-win record in the tournament involving six nations of the SAARC region.
In front of the home crowd, the Bangladesh boys ended the 90-minute match with a 1-1 draw.
Bangladesh’s Fahim scored the first goal of the match at the 46th minute, putting a 1-0 lead for the home side. But India’s Avinash countered with the equaliser at the 63rd minute.
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and SAFF president Kazi Mohammad Salahuddin was the chief guest in the day’s final and later he handed over the trophy at the closing function.
Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Arif Khan Joy and BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy were also present on the occasion.
After the a barren first half, midfielder Fahim Morshed put Bangladesh ahead in the very first minute of the second half by a ground shot from goalmouth melee, off a Shawon cross, amid thunderous cheers from houseful fans (1-0).
Indian midfielder Amay Avinash Morajkar leveled the margin in the 63rd minute by a long distance sudden shot from about 40 metres that kissed the Bangladesh net over custodian Faisal Ahmed silencing the home fans (1-1).
In tie breaker, Bangladesh converted all the four shots successfully while India missed the 3rd and 4th attempt after two successive goals.
Fahim Morshed, Jahangir Alam Sajib, Mohammad Atiquzzaman and local boy Saaduddin converted their penalty shoot-outs correctly for Bangladesh.
On the other hand, substitute Saurabh Meher and Mohammad Rakip scored from first two attempts for India.
The 3rd Indian attempt of Abhijit Sarkar returned to play hitting the side bar while Bangladesh goalie Faisal Ahmed foiled the 4th attempt of Mohammad Saqlain Khan.
The match was stopped for about 10 minutes in the dying moment due to power failure.
Bangladesh captain Shawon Hossain was adjudged man of the final. Bangladesh key forward Sarwar Zaman Nipu, who missed the final after receiving two successive yellow cards, was adjudged the most valuable player of the tournament.
In the previous two editions of the regional soccer meet, Bangladesh finished 4th and 3rd respectively.
Bangladesh made their first-ever final berth in the 3rd version of the SAFF U-16 Championship with an all-win record eliminating
Afghanistan 1-0 in the first semifinal while India managed the final berth eliminating Nepal by 1-0 goal in the 2nd semifinal, both held at the same venue on Sunday.