The Sri Lanka U19 football team made their way to an early exit from the SAFF U19 Championship 2025 after being trounced 5-0 by the Nepal youth side in their second preliminary round game at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
The Sri Lanka Under 19 outfit managed to give a hard time to Nepali youth players until the last minute of the injury time of the first half. Sujan Dangol opened the scoring in the final minute of injury time of the first half, converting a pinpoint cross pass from Ram Thapa (SL 0 – 1 Nepal).
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While showing good resistance in the second half, the Sri Lankan lads were unlucky to gift the second goal to the rivals. The Sri Lanka captain made a clearing kick inside the box, and the pass hit the leg of striking player Dharbendra Kunwar and the rebound ball found the back of the net by passing stranded Sri Lanka goalkeeper Nadal Aaron Senapala (SL 0 – 2 Nepal).
With this goal, the floodgates were opened up for Nepal and they kept continuously pressuring the Sri Lankan defence. The third success came for Nepal as Subhash Bam made an excellent left-foot kick to an accurate cross pass by deceiving Sri Lankan players to put the game beyond Sri Lanka’s reach (SL 0 – 3 Nepal).
In the dying minutes of the game, the boys from the Himalayan range managed to score back-to-back goals by putting the icing on the cake. Bigyan Khadka scored a magnificent goal that was initiated by an excellent cross pass from the Nepali right wing (SL 0 – 4 Nepal).
In the penultimate minute of injury time of the second half, the Nepal youth side was given a free kick following a foul play by a Sri Lankan player. Trusted boots of Lachchu Thapa managed to find the back of the net with a direct kick where the stranded Sri Lankan goalkeeper had no clue on the direction of the ball (SL 0 – 5 Nepal).
During the first pool game, Sri Lankan youths were dismantled by the Indian youths with an 8-0 score. Sri Lankan youths conceded 13 goals during 3 hours of play in two matches. Sri Lanka’s disappointing campaign ended this way, most importantly by failing to score a single goal. This poor performance has raised serious concerns over the Football Federation of Sri Lanka’s (FFSL) preparation and about the structure and the standard of local school football.
During this series, FFSL decided to include overseas-based Sri Lankan-origin players, which is a good move, but at the end of the day, the effort didn’t pay off due to lack of preparation time. It was clearly visible that the chemistry between the players was at a below-par level compared to their opposition. Further, it was significant that the foreign-based players who got national call-ups failed to make any impact in the games. In addition there are high-caliber Sri Lankan-origin players who are based in European countries, and they are willing to represent the Sri Lankan side. Hence, FFSL should take immediate actions to acquire those talents.
Finally, this disappointing performance should be taken as an alarm about the future of Sri Lankan football, which will not only depend on origin players but also on developing local players by implementing a better structure and a sustainable plan.
Match Summary
Full-time: Sri Lanka 0 – 5 Nepal
Sujan Dangol 45+3′
Dharbendra Kunwar 61′
Subhash Bam 76′
Bigyan Khadka 89′
Lachhu Thapa 90+3′
In the other game Bangladesh U-19 outfit outclassed the Bhutan U-19 side with a 3 – 0 score margin.
