Pakistan’s U17 national football team advanced to the semi-finals of the 2024 SAFF U17 Championship in Bhutan after a commanding 5-1 victory over Sri Lanka in their final group match.
At Thimpu’s Changlimithang Stadium, Subhan Karim opened the scoring for Pakistan in the 20th minute, giving his team a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Muhammad Talha doubled the advantage, making it 2-0 with a fine header.
Subhan struck again in the 36th minute, netting his second goal of the match and putting Pakistan ahead 3-0 at halftime. This was the Gwadar native’s third goal in this SAFF U17s campaign for the Sajjad Mehmood coached Pakistan side.
As the second half began, Sri Lanka’s defense faltered, leading to an own goal that pushed Pakistan’s lead to 4-0. Substitute Abdul Ghani added to the scoreline in the 56th minute, extending Pakistan’s lead to 5-0.
Sri Lanka managed to score their lone goal in the 76th minute thanks to Zafarullah Zakariyya, but it was too little, too late to challenge Pakistan’s dominant performance.
Later in the evening, Nepal fought hard to defeat hosts Bhutan 2-1 to leapfrog them into Group B second place behind leaders Pakistan.
Pakistan won Group B with 7 points, Nepal runners-up with 6 points, Bhutan bowed out in third place with 4 points, while Sri Lanka finished bottom with 0 points. Pakistan had previously edged Nepal 1-0 on 21 September and then held to a 3-3 score by Bhutan on 23 September.
Yesterday, 24 September, favourites India eased past Maldives 3-0 to win Group A and allow Bangladesh to finish in 2nd place due to better goal difference.
India finished top of three-team Group A with 6 points, Bangladesh were runners-up with 1 point and -1 goal difference, while Maldives were knocked out in 3rd place with 1 point but with a -3 goal difference.
Pakistan will now face Bangladesh in the SAFF U17 Championship semifinal on Saturday, 28 September, 5:00pm PST kickoff, while Nepal take on India earlier that same day.
The final of the 2024 SAFF U17 Championship will be held on Monday, 30 September.
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