Sri Lanka in must-win situation against Maldives

Action from the match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh     

By Susil Premalal   

Sri Lanka will face Maldives in their 2022 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Boys’ Under-17 Football Tournament Group ‘A’ second match on September 9 at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo.   

A total of six countries are participating in this tournament, which concludes on September 14.   

Earlier, Sri Lanka lost their opening match of the tournament against Bangladesh 1-5 while India trounced Bhutan 3-0 in a Group ‘B’ encounter to book their berths to play in the knock-out stage of the tournament.   

Sri Lanka need to win their second match against the Maldives if they are to qualify for the knock-out stage of the competition.   

Bangladesh led 3-0 at half time and added two more goals in the second half with Ruber Shaikh (seventh minute) Mursef Ali (10th and 75th minute), Islam Rana (79th minute) and Nazim Uddin (90th minute) doing the scoring.   

Meanwhile, Yasser Sharfraz scored the solitary goal for Sri Lanka in the 77th minute.