KATHMANDU, Nov 14: Nepal women’s national football team has entered into the second round of the 2020 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a third straight 1-1 draw, this time against Bangladesh, in Myanmar on Tuesday.
In the third Group C match at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon, Nepal scored the first goal of the game just like it did in its two earlier group matches, but suffered to a late equalizer from Bangladesh. Despite the three draws, Nepal has reached the second round as the best third-placed team of the qualifiers.
Nepal skipper Niru Thapa scored the first goal of the match in the 17th minute, but had to share a point with Bangladesh as it scored the equalizer in the third injury-time minute through Akhil Khatun.
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Nepal had drawn its earlier two matches against India and host Myanmar as well. In its first group match, Nepal scored the first goal of the game against India through Thapa in the 11th minute, but conceded an equalizer in the 37th minute through Yumnam Kamala Devi.
In its second group game, Sabitra Bhandari gave Nepal an early lead in the third minute from the penalty spot, and later the host Myanmar equalized in the 14th minute through Khin Moe Wai.
As Nepal collected three points from three games, it qualified to the second round being placed as one of the best third-placed teams.
Due to groups having different number of teams after withdrawals, the results against the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams in four-team and five-team groups are not considered for this ranking.
Two teams of each group along with two best third-placed teams will go to the second round. Nepal, despite not being first or second of the group, reached the second round as it got two points from the top two teams of its group.
A total of 18 teams will be finalized for the 2020 edition of the tournament.
