Wednesday 11th September 2024
The Maldives Vs Bhutan match on September 24, 2019 sealed Nepal’s fate in the SAFF U18 Men’s Championship 2019.
Both the competing teams failed to make any goals throughout the match at the Halchowk Stadium on Tuesday, resulting in a draw and leading to Nepal’s exit from the tournament.
If Bhutan would have defeated Maldives by a four-goal margin, Nepal would still stand a chance to enter the SAFF U18 Men’s Championship semifinals.
However, Bhutan has advanced to the semi finals with four points from all the Group A matches. Meanwhile, Maldives also entered the semifinals as runner-up with two points to its credit.
After Nepal’s humiliating defeat in the ongoing SAFF U18 Men’s Championship Group stage matches, the Nepal U18 Coach Shrestha decided to resign from his post.
He announced his resignation on September 24, 2019 after the match between Maldives and Bhutan dampened all hopes for Nepal’s qualification to the semis.
Shrestha took complete ownership of Nepal’s performance throughout the tournament and said he would leave his post.
“We were defending champions. There were huge expectations on us. I take the full responsibility for the loss in the SAFF matches and announce to resign from my position,” said Shrestha.
Shrestha submitted his official resignation to the All Nepal Football Federation (ANFA). The Nepal football association spokesperson Kiran Rai has confirmed the same, adding that the association accepted Shrestha’s resignation immediately.
“We have approved his resignation. We will now discuss with technical committee for the appointment of new coach for the team”, said Rai.
After a draw with Maldives and a loss against Bhutan, Nepal finished its Group qualifier with just one point and was positioned third on the Group A points table.
Bhutan and Maldives from Group A now move forward to the semis, while Bangladesh from Group B has secured a spot in the same.
The match between India and Sri Lanka today will decide which of these two Group B teams will emerge runners-up and qualify for the semis.
| Group A | |||||||||
| TEAM | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/– | PTS | |
| Bhutan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
| Maldives | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Nepal | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 | |
