New Delhi:
India has beaten Bangladesh 3-1 to win the SAFF Women's Football Championship. This is India's fourth consecutive SAFF Women's Championship.
India's first goal came in the 12th minute throughstriker Dangmei Grace, who got a slight touch and the ballslowly rolled into the empty net with rival goalkeeper SabinaAkhtar caught in a dilemma.
It set the tone for the match. The match being a finalmeant that Bangladesh had to shrug off their defensiveaspirations and that allowed India the width and space.
India had entered the final after a 3-1 drubbing of Nepal while Bangladesh had beaten Maldives 6-0 in the other semifinals. Bangladesh are playing in their maiden final of the SAFF Women’s Championship.
India coach Sajid Dar described the win as a "team effort". "It is hard to single out any single player. Right from the goalkeeper to our defenders to the midfielders to the strikers, everyone played their part. It was a team effort," Dar said at the post-match press conference.
