Football

Nepal will have more things to consider than a game when they face off Sri Lanka in the SAFF U-17 Championship semi-finals in Colombo on Monday.

The visiting Nepali side will be tested by an intimidating partisan home crowd at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium if not so much by the strength of the home team. The match kicks off at 8:15pm NST, after the first semi-final between Bangladesh and India. 

This will be the third meeting between the two sides in this competition, with Nepal coming on top in both the previous matches. They scored a total of eight goals while keeping a clean sheet.

For Sri Lanka, who are making their first appearance in the last four of the competition, this will be a big game. They will be counting on the home support in their bid to travel the distance in the tournament.

Nepal who have set their target on the trophy from the beginning of the competition will look to breeze past the hosts.

The Sri Lankan side ended their group stage campaign in second place with three points. The hosts bounced back from a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Group A winners Bangladesh to scrap past the Maldives 1-0.

Nepal faced a lot of resistance from Bhutan before prevailing 2-1 in the opening group match. But they will be taking a lot of heart into the semi-finals from the 3-1 comeback victory over the defending champions India.