In their Wednesday semifinal game, a calm India defeated a shaky Nepal 3-2 on penalties to get to the SAFF Under-19 Championship championship against Pakistan.
Pakistan, who will play Bhutan in the other semifinal match at Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu, finished second in Group A behind Nepal.
India will begin as the favorite against Nepal, but it will need to pull itself together after Bhutan stretched it in their most recent league game on Monday.
After blanking Bangladesh 3-0 in its opening match, India battled against a resilient Bhutan but still managed to win 2-1.
The Blue Colts’ head coach, Shuvendu Panda, wasn’t fully thrilled with his team’s performance against Bhutan but said that they would need to keep their focus on winning at all costs.
To be very honest, we did not use the strategy we had planned to use against Bhutan, therefore I am not happy with that as a coach.
 India vs Nepal | SAFF U19 Championship 2023
- SAFF Under-19 Championship semifinal results
- India vs. Nepal Wednesday game
- India’s victory on penalties
- Championship match against Pakistan
- Pakistan’s finish in Group A
- Bhutan as Pakistan’s opponent
- Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu
- India’s recent league game against Bhutan
- India’s opening match against Bangladesh
- Blue Colts’ head coach Shuvendu Panda
- Coach’s thoughts on team performance
- Unplanned strategy against Bhutan
- Winning focus
- SAFF Under-19 Championship update
- Football in South Asia
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