Bangladesh beat Bhutan, close to clinch title

Sports Desk: Bangladesh beat host Bhutan by 2-0 goals in their last match of the five-nation SAFF U-18 Championship goals at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu on Wednesday afternoon, taking the team close to the title.

Two brilliant goals by Jafar Iqbal helped Bangladesh beat Bhutan by 2-0 goals in their last match of the five-nation SAFF U-18 Championship goals.

Jafar Iqbal, who struck twice in Bangladesh’s creditable 4-3 victory over India and netted one goal against the Maldives, proved his worth again scoring two quick goals in the 80th and 83rd minutes against Bhutan in the day’s crucial match and dominated the scorer list making five individual goals.

However, Bangladesh will have to wait for the India-Nepal last league match which is scheduled to kick off at 7:00pm today at the same venue.

Bangladesh will emerge champions through head-to-head counting if India beat Nepal or if the match ends in draw. However, Nepal will be champions if they win the match.

After Monday’s 3rd round matches, four teams -- India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan -- secured six points each from three matches to stay in the title race while the Maldives were eliminated from the meet losing all the four matches.

On Monday, high-flying Bangladesh suffered the first defeat in their 3rd match to Nepal by 1-2 goals after making 1-1 in the first half while India also stayed in the title race beating the Maldives by 2-1 goals on the day.

Coming from 0-3 goals behind, Bangladesh made a flying start in the tournament beating their giant neighbour India by 4-3 goals scoring all the four goals in row in the 2nd half and consolidated their position further beating all-loser the Maldives by 2-0 goals in the 2nd match.

risingbd/Dhaka/Sept 27, 2017/Shamim/Amirul