Group B: Ifs and buts of “Group of Death”
Dhaka, December 5: The group B of the ongoing SAFF Championship was dubbed as the “Group of Death” and the label was justified as none of the teams ensured their semifinal berths after two rounds of matches.
On Tuesday Bangladesh takes on Maldives and Nepal meets Pakistan in the last and the third round matches and the eventual semifinalists will be finalized after the completion of the matches justifying the tag of the group.
Bangladesh has no option apart from winning the match against Maldives and hope Nepal beat Pakistan or the match ends in a stalemate. If Bangladesh beat Maldives and Nepal beats Pakistan then Nepal will be the group champions with seven points and Bangladesh would finish second with four points.
If Nepal and Pakistan match ends in a draw then Nepal will finish on the top with five points and Pakistan will finish their campaign on three points. So if Bangladesh wins against Maldives then Bangladesh will clinch the second spot and go through.
However, if Pakistan beats Nepal and Maldives defeat Bangladesh then the scenario will be different. The wins will see both Pakistan and Maldives end their group phase with five points and both of the teams will be moving to the last four.
If Bangladesh and Maldives plays out a draw and Nepal also ties with Pakistan then Nepal will win the group with five points, Maldives and Pakistan will finish on three points and the goal difference will be the criteria to separate the teams and Bangladesh will finish in the last and fourth spot.
There is also another odd and it is like that. If Maldives beat Bangladesh they will finish on five points and Nepal plays out a draw with Pakistan then both Nepal and Maldives will be moving to the semis with five points.
Points Table of Group B
Team Match- Won- Draw- Loss- GF/GA Points
Nepal 2 1 1 0 2/1 4
Maldives 2 0 2 0 1/1 2
Pakistan 2 0 2 0 0/0 2
Bangladesh 2 0 1 1 0/1 1