Afghanistan have booked a spot in the SAFF Championship final after eking out a 1-0 victory against Nepal in Sunday’s semi-final at the Dasharath Rangashala Stadium in Kathmandu.
The hosts went into the match-up as heavy favourites, having topped Group A with victories over contenders Bangladesh and India, but the home support could not help the Gorkhalis find the net against the underdog Afghanistan team.
Sandjar Ahmadi put Afghanistan ahead in the 11th minute, and the goal proved to be all his team needed to advance to their second successive SAFF Championship final.
Nepal’s Rohit Chand had a chance to level the scores late but twice failed to convert a penalty kick in the 87th minute. The referee directed him to retake the spot kick after his first effort was saved by Mansur Faqiryar, but the Afghan keeper again kept him out.
Afghanistan now await the result of today’s Maldives-India semi-final to determine who they will face in Wednesday’s final as they vie for their first SAFF crown. Afghanistan finished runners-up in the 2011 edition and may find themselves in a rematch of that final if India prevail today.
-With New Age input
