Bangladesh fail to overcome Nepal

When a draw was enough to reach the semi-final of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Suzuki Cup, Bangladesh footballers made it enough to justify their exit instead.

Despite homeground advantage, the Bangladesh team swallowed a 0-2 loss to Nepal, thanks to poor goalkeeping by Sohel, who plays for Abahani Limited in local football.

Once the visitors scored the first goal at 32nd minute, the home side never looked in a state of bouncing back at Bangabandhu National Stadium on Saturday. Rather, the clueless Bangladesh boys were presented with another goal at the 90th minute.

Bangladesh, who beat both Bhutan and Pakistan by 2-0 and 1-0 respectively, were in an advantegeous position since Nepal had to ensure a win, as against Bangladesh's requirement of draw to reach the semi-final.

As Pakistan won 3-0 against Bhutan in another match of group A, just a daw against Nepal could have sent Bangladesh to the semifinal as group champions.

The local booters made silly mistakes and succumbed to the burden of expectations of a jam-packed home crowd at the stadium.

Now, Nepal and Pakistan qualified as group champions and runners-up respectively.

Nepalese forward Bimal Gharti Magar scored their first goal in 32nd minute.

Though Bangladesh displayed some pressing football from the start, they could not breach the Nepal defence.

The moment Bangladesh were making frantic efforts to score an equaliser, Nepal forward Nawayug Shrestha scored their second goal in 90th minute, shattering the hopes of the hosts to find a berth in semifinal.