Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Bangladesh ended Sri Lanka’s hope of advancing to the knockout stage of the 2024 SAFF U-20 Asia Cup with a 2-0 victory at the ANFA Complex on Tuesday.
In the second match of Group ‘A’, Mirajul Islam opened the scoring in the 18th minute, while Piash Ahmed doubled Bangladesh’s lead in the 85th minute.
This was Sri Lanka’s second defeat in as many games. It lost to Nepal 0-1 in its first match of the regional age-group tournament.
Sri Lanka’s exit means Bangladesh and Nepal have advanced to the knockout stage. The two sides will now face each other on Thursday to determine the group winner.
Bhutan will take on the Maldives in the second match of Group ‘B’ on Wednesday. Bhutan lost to India in its opening match on Monday.
India is the most successful side in the SAFF U-20 Championship with three titles. Nepal won the first two titles – in 2015 and 2017. The tournament was hosted as a U-18 category in 2017 and 2019, U-19 in 2015 and 2023 and U-20 in 2022.
