Holders Bangladesh reached the final of the four-nation South Asian Football Federation's (SAFF) U-19 Women's Championship '2024 with an all-win record, beating all losers Bhutan by 4-0 goals at the Bir Shreshtha Shaheed Shipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka's Kamalapur on Tuesday.
Defending champions Bangladesh, which assured the final berth with one match spare after beating their giant rivals India by a 1-0 goal in their second league match last Sunday, will play India again in the final on Thursday.
The title-deciding final match between two neighbouring rivals will kick off at 6 p.m. local time at the same venue.
In the day's second and last match, Bangladesh fielded their second string team, resting some nine regular players, but faced no trouble to dominate over their rivals Bhutan by 2-0 in the first half.
Oeyshi Khatun scored twice for Bangladesh in the 31st and 63rd minutes, while Nushrat Jahan and Trishna Rani netted the remaining two goals in the 18th and 58th minutes, respectively.
Earlier in the day's first match, India eliminated Nepal, beating them by 4-0 goals at the same venue on Tuesday afternoon.
After a barren first, Neha struck twice for India in the 54th and 81st minutes, while Sulanjana Raul and Cindy Remruatpuli Colney netted two other goals for India in the 86th and 90+3 minutes, respectively.
On completion of the league-based matches on Tuesday, hosts Bangladesh comfortably dominated the points table, with an all-win run securing a full nine points from three straight matcheswhile India finished 2second,collecting six points from three matches to reach the final.
Nepal and Bhutan were eliminated from the race with three and zero, respectively.
Earlier, the Young Tigresses made a good start in the four-nation meet, beating Himalayan nation Nepal by 3-1 goals and ensuring the final, beating India by 1-0 goals, while India also made a flying start, crushing Bhutan by 10-0 goals on opening day and ensuring the final, outplaying Nepal by 4-0 goals.
Nepal U-19 Women's team earned the lone victory, beating Bhutan U-19 Women's side by a 1-0 goal last Sunday.