Nepal will lock horns with Bangladesh in the fourth edition of the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship 2023 final on Thursday but the hosts and the defending champions will be the one tough team to beat at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Sepoy Mohammad (BSSM) Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka.

Nepal are brimming with confidence after their 3-1 comeback win over arch-rivals India on Tuesday sent Preeti Rai’s team to their second final of the biennial competition.

But a bitter memory still haunts the women’s team.

Nepal had reached the final in the first edition of the competition in 2018 but a 1-0 loss to Bangladesh had denied them a place in history.

Nepal will also get an opportunity to avenge their 3-1 group stage loss against hosts Bangladesh.

The hosts on Tuesday thrashed a lowly Bhutan side 5-0 to kill off favourites India’s any remaining hopes and topped the group with seven points from three matches, thanks to a brilliant hat-trick by captain Shamsunnahar Jr.

Nepal finished as runners-up with six points. They had defeated Bhutan 4-0 on Monday.

Nepal have not won the age-group tournament yet and coach Yam Prasad Gurung expects a tough test against the two-time champions.

“We will aim to lift the trophy but it will not be an easy task,” Gurung said. “They have the home support and they are a very strong team.”

Nepali women’s team will also look to avoid the repeat of their recent SAFF heartache, when their senior team lost to Bangladesh 3-1 in the final at the Dasharath Stadium in September last year. The defeat left the Nepali senior women’s dream of lifting their first SAFF trophy unfulfilled. Nepal had defeated India 1-0 in the semi-finals to advance into the final.

U-20 captain Rai, Amisha Karki and Dipa Shahi were in the senior squad that lost against Bangladesh for the first time in any competition.

The development events in Bangladesh is almost like a carbon copy of that September anguish but the Nepali women’s age-group team will seek to look past the gloom as glory awaits.