Nepal 0-1 Bangladesh Highlights, SAFF U20 Championship 2026 SF: Manik's Early Strike Sends Bengal Tigers To Final

Good afternoon, football fans! This is the start of our live blog covering Nepal’s SAFF U20 football semi-final match against Bangladesh. Stay tuned for pre-match updates and line-ups as they are released.

• Fixture: Nepal U20 vs Bangladesh U20

• Series: SAFF U20 Championship 2026

• Venue: National Football Stadium, Male, Maldives

• Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2026

• Time: 4:15 PM IST

The SAFF U20 Championship 2026 semi-final between Nepal and Bangladesh will be live-streamed on the Sportzworkz YouTube channel for free. There will be no television broadcast of the game.

Starting XI: 1 Md Ismail Hossain (gk), 4 Md Mithu Chowdhury (c), 2 Sani Das, 6 Md Kamal Merdha, 8 Chandon Roy, 9 Md Manik, 10 Nazmul Huda, 11 Md Mursed Ali, 12 Ronan Benjamin, 14 Sheikh Sangram, 16 Md Yusuf Ali.

Bench: 3 Ihsan Habib Riduan, 5 Ashikur Rahman, 7 Sree Sumon, 13 S P Rafiz, 15 Md Abdul Riyad, 17 Md Joy Ahamed, 18 Samuel Raksam, 19 Moltagim Alam, 20 Md Rifat Kazi, 21 Ibrahim Hasib, 22 Declan Theodore, 23 Md Nahidul Islam.

Starting XI: 20 Pemba Nurbu Bhote (gk), 14 Dharbendra Kunwar (c), 3 Siddhant Khadka, 6 Prashant Mokrtan, 8 John Bista, 9 Sujan Dangol, 10 Subash Bam, 12 Ganesh Pulami Magar, 15 Bihaya Uranw, 21Alik Shrestha, 23 Nishan Raj Lawat.

Bench: 1 Sujan Basnet, 2 Rohan Moktan, 4 Binayak Tharu, 5 Rohan Tamang, 7 Sabin Kumar Lunfeli, 11 Bigyan Khadka, 13 Pawan Pakhrin, 16 Bhakta Bahadur (gk), 17 Anubhab Puri, 18 Prasun Tamang, 19 Ranjeet Lama, 22 Sabin Rai.

The referee blows his whistle, and Bangladesh get the ball rolling to kick off the first semi-final. Stay tuned for live updates!

A very attacking start from both sides. Bangladesh are looking to play the long balls to find spaces in between the Nepalese defence, while the Gorkhalis are playing much more narrowly, using the pace of their forwards to get behind the defenders. Looks like a nice semi-final shaping up.

The first shooting opportunity of the afternoon falls to Bangladesh. A good run by Mursed Ali, who runs at two Nepalese defenders before cutting it back for Nazmul. The striker tries to bend it into the bottom corner but ends up dragging it wide.

Bangladesh go from defence to attack in the blink of an eye, and Md Manik heads the Bengal Tigers ahead! A set-piece on the right is played short, with the ball reaching Mursed Ali, who dinks in a delightful ball towards the far post. Manik uses his height to his advantage to power a header past the goalkeeper.

Sullivan doubles Bangladesh's lead within the space of a minute... and the flag goes up!! It was a breathtaking bit of attack from Bangladesh, with a brilliant run from Mithu sending the ball towards the America-born youngster. However, he is offside in the buildup, so the goal won't count.

A stunning save from Pemba Nurbu to deny Nazmul. Good work by Sullivan to keep control of the ball before chipping it towards his teammate, but Nazmul's header is saved with a one-handed dive from the Nepalese goalkeeper, who holds on to the loose ball.

Ugly scenes in Male as play is stopped due to unruly behaviour from both sets of fans. It stems from a throw given to Nepal by the referee, which Bangladesh players disagree with.

The Bangladeshi fans near the touchline respond by throwing bottles. The Nepalese fans at the other end respond similarly. The Bangladesh players calm the situation down as security steps in. Play eventually resumes.

A first-half change by Nepal as Ganesh Magar is brought off, with Bigyan Khadka coming on in his place. Looks to be a tactical substitution, which is fair as Bangladesh have dominated the first half straight from kick-off.

The Bangladeshi players have way too much time on their hands in the Nepalese half, and Mursed Ali takes a thunderous strike with his left. It whizzes past the post, and Pemba Nurbu is livid at his defenders.

The three minutes of additional time are over, and the referee blows his whistle to signal half-time. Bangladesh completely dominated the first 45 minutes, and Nepal will be happy to go into the break trailing by just one goal. The Young Gorkhalis need to change their approach if they want to have any hopes of getting a win today.

The referee blows his whistle as Nepal get the ball rolling in the second half. No changes at the break for either sied. The Young Gorkhalis are immediately on the attack, but it ends with a foul on Sani Das.

Concern for Bangladesh as Manik goes down in pain near the centre-circle. Not sure what happened as there was nobody near him – maybe it a bad bout of cramp. The stretcher comes on as the goalscorer is brought off. Md Joy Ahamed comes on in his place.

So close from Bigyan Khadka!! This is the closest that Nepal have come all day. A set-piece from the left is floated in towards the near post, where Khadka gets a header. Ismail was beaten all day, but the ball hit the top of the net.

Again the stretcher comes on for Bangladesh. This time, it's Sani Das who is carried off the field in agony. No substitutions yet as he receives treatment on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Nepal make a change of their own as Anubhab comes on in place of Dharbendra.

The game has turned really scrappy, with Bangladesh happy to sit back and try and hit on the counter. One such move finds Sullivan, who heads it back for Joy. The latter tries to cross it back for Sullivan, but a defender makes a crucial block to bring the attack to an end.

Nepal are growing increasingly desperate in their attack in order to find the equaliser, but Bangladesh are holding firm. The Bengal Tigers are using every trick in the book to slow the game down, and Ismail Hossain now goes down and receives some treatment.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Ali gets his head bandaged, but is shown a yellow card for wasting time while coming back on the pitch.

With Nepal continuing their onslaught on the Bangladeshi goal, Anubhab pulls the trigger from at least 30 yards away. It evades all the bodies in the box and seemds destined for the bottom corner, but Yusuf Ali – already down on the ground – makes a crucial block.

Meanwhile, the fourth offiical announces a minimum of six minutes to be added on.

What a save from Pemba Nurbu!! A brilliant run by Sullivan leads to the Philadelphia Union player teeing up Sree Sumon. From barely three yards out, the Bangladesh substitute fails to find the back of the net, with the Nepalese goalkeeper making a save at the corner.

The referee blows his whistle to bring an end to the semi-final, and Bangladesh have sealed a place in the SAFF U20 Championship final. The first-half goal from Md Manik proves to be the decider. Brilliant effort by Nepal, but they couldn't convert their chances into goals.