Bangladesh and India were announced joint champions of the SAFF Under-19 Womens Championship 2024 on Thursday following a series of drama after an 11-11 tie in the shootout as the regular time of the final match saw a 1-1 tie.
The Shaheed Bir Shreshtha Sepoy Mustafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur, Dhaka witnessed a lot of turns in choosing the champions.
After the 11-11 tie in the shootout, a spur-of-the-moment decision by the match commissioner D Silva Jayasooriya Dilan disrupted the momentum of the match. That official chose to decide the winner by toss.
Bangladesh began to object to the toss at the same moment as India won and began to celebrate.
Later, it was discovered that the tie-breaking rule did not include the toss option. As a result, the Match Commissioner requested to resume the shootout after cancelling the toss and conclusion. That way the Match Commissioner became the villain of the match.
The Indian women then refused to play and left the ground immediately. Bangladesh stayed on the ground.
As per the
efusal to play rule, the Indian team was given 30 minutes to return to play. But India didn return even after half an hour.
The Match Commission then made the decision to declare both of them as joint champions.
Thus the best of the best in the South Asian womens age level was determined on the day.
Bangladesh head coach AKM Saiful Bari Titu made a change to the best XI for the India match. A winger Umehla Marma was replaced with defender Ruma Akter to jam-pack the defence.
But a packed defence did not turn out to be a good solution against India and the absence of Umehla caused an imbalance there.
The feeble defence of Bangladesh literally gifted Indian strikers an opportunity to breach through in the eighth minute and open the net. Receiving a long cross from skipper Nitu Linda, Indian striker SD Nongmeikapam carried the ball into the box and hit the post with an amazing shot. Nongmeikapam was one of the top scorers of the tournament and her nearby marker Joynob Bibi Rita, a defender of Bangladesh, failed to access or intercept her timely.
After digesting a goal, Bangladesh returned to its senses and replaced defender Ruma with winger Umehla.
In the 70th minute, Bangladesh made two changes and replaced midfielder Puja Das and Bonna Khatun with midfielders Kanon Rani Bahadur and Sultana Akter.
Finally, Bangladesh held the opponent in the third minute of injury time as striker Sagorika netted the ball with a solo effort.
While an opposing defender tried to clear a long cross with a header, Sagorika found the ball, pushed it inside the box, beat two markers before entering the box, and placed the ball home.
As the regular time saw a deadlock, it went for a shootout to decide the winner. In the shootout, Bangladesh and India both found the net 11-11.
