Saff u19 championships

SAFF U20 Football Championship: On Friday, the sparse crowd at the ANFA Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal, waited and waited and finally got to watch what a fan generally wants to in a game of football. A goal!

The spectators’ patience was eventually rewarded deep into the add-on time of the second half. In the 95th minute, substitute Manglenthang Kipgen stole the ball from Adam Shiyaan and placed it in the bottom corner with a brilliant left-footer to hand India a 1-0 victory and send them into the semi-finals of the SAFF U20 Championship 2024 with an all-win record in the group.

It was certainly not something that the football lovers of Kathmandu hadn’t seen before. Just about a year ago, in the SAFF U19 Championships, Kipgen would not have struck most as a player who would get many minutes on the pitch. In fact, he did not start in any match and clocked only 82 minutes on the pitch in the entire tournament.