Bangladesh to face defending champions India in the second semifinal of the ongoing SAFF U-20 Championship 2024 today at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal at 3:15 pm (BST).

Both sides have met seven times in this age-level regional competition since their first meet in the 2015 semifinals – Bangladesh won two times and India won four times while one match was tied at goalless.

The three-time runners-up Bangladesh lost twice to the three-time champions India in the finals – by 1-2 goals in the 2019 edition and 2-5 goals in the 2022 edition.

If the highly confident Bangladesh can beat India in the day’s semis, they will face hosts Nepal in the final on 28 August at the same venue at 5:45 pm (BST).

Nepal beat Bhutan by 4-1 goals in the tie-breaker after their hard-fought first semifinal was tied at 1-1 goals on Sunday at the same venue.

“After losing the group match (against Nepal), we were pretty sure that we were going to face India in the semis,” said Bangladesh head coach AKM Maruful Haque after the training session on Sunday.

“After losing that match, I saw a hunger to win against India among the players during the training. If they maintain it on the field then surely we will win, we will beat India and play in the final,” he concluded.