Group A at the SAFF Championship is now wide open, with all four teams in with a chance to qualify for the knockout stages pending the results of the last two matches today.
India and hosts Nepal, who face off at 3:45pm BST, have the best chances of advancing to the semi-finals, with four points each from their first two matches. Bangladesh and Pakistan have one point each, meaning that the winner of their match, also a 3:45pm BST kick-off, will need events elsewhere to go their way to put them through to the semi-finals.
A draw between Nepal and India at the Dasharath Rangashala Stadium will be enough to send both teams through and eliminate Bangladesh and Pakistan from the tournament.
However, if the Nepal-India match produces a winner, the winner of the Bangladesh-Pakistan match will have a chance to advance on goal-differential.
If Nepal beat India by a single goal, Bangladesh will need to beat Pakistan by three goals to leapfrog India for second place in the group.
If India win by one goal, Bangladesh will need to beat Pakistan by four goals to overtake Nepal for the second semi-final spot.
A good result for Bangladesh would be Nepal beating India by a large margin. A 3-0 Nepal victory would mean that Bangladesh would just need to beat Pakistan, irrespective of margin of victory, to match India’s four points and book a spot in the final four on a superior goal difference.
-With New Age input
