Maldives comprehensively defeated Bhutan 3-1 in a Group B match of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championships at the Trivandrum International Stadium on Thursday.
There was no clash of kit colours in the second match of the tournament but there was plenty of action as the island country could have scored at least seven times. Just like Wednesday’s opener between Nepal and Sri Lanka, the final score line didn’t reflect the story of the 90 minutes, as Maldives took the game in their hand from the word go.
In the second minute, the Maldivian forward Mohamed Hamza missed a sitter right in front of the Bhutan goalmouth when he shot wide a squared ball from skipper Ashfaq Ali.
After a confident start, Maldives were rewarded for their continuous toil for goal in the ninth minute when Imaaz Ahmed wrapped his laces around a long ball that dropped in front of him on the edge of the Bhutan box and sent the ball across into the bottom corner of the net.
Maldives continued their offensive and Bhutan look rattled, struggling to hold on to the ball, but they soon found a breakthrough in the twentieth minute when Tshering Dorji collected a stray ball in the box, turned magnificently and sent in a low shot into the net beyond the reach of the Maldiavian goalkeeper Mohamed Imran.
Maldives carried on unfazed and Ashfaq in search of a goal dribbled through the middle of the Bhutanese half, shifted the ball to his left and found himself in space. His shot from distance was punched out by Gurung. Imaaz latched on to the rebound but send it straight back into the keepers hand, missing a clear chance to take back the lead.
Maldives took back the lead when Asadhulla found the net through a brilliant flick off a free-kick from the left. Maldives went on to squander easy chances in hunt for the perfect goal, exhibiting exhilarating football along the way.
Right before half-time, it was Ashfaq again who was through on again, twisting and turning he ventured deep in the Bhutan box, but didn’t shoot when he had the opportunity and instead opted to fake the defender and square the ball for Asadhulla at the far post, whose shot was brilliantly saved and held on to by the keeper.
The game didn’t even go into Maldivian half for a considerable time and one could see the Maldivian keeper Imran comfortably strolling way outside his goal area.
Maldives started the second half in no mood to settle down as Imaaz cut in from the left near the penalty box and took a shot which extracted a fingertip save from Gurung. Apart from that one chance, when Biren Basnet hit the post, Bhutan were completely overwhelmed with Maldivian offense.
The final nail in the coffin was slammed in, and deservingly so, by the talismanic Maldivian captain Ashfaq, who sent in a screamer from outside the box that soared into the far right corner of the net in the sixty-sixth minute.
Ashfaq put up a man of the match performance, ripping apart the middle of Bhutan’s half of the field throughout the entire match and passing in both directions. The Bhutan coach lauded his performance after the match and admitted his team’s failure in containing the midfielder.
The 160th ranked team in the world now go top of the group B with three points and will face Bangladesh in their next fixture on 26 December.
In the second match of the day, defending champions Afghanistan overpowered Bangladesh 4-0 to start their title defence in style. Masih Saighani, Faysal Shayesteh, Zubayr Amiri, Khaibar Amani netted the goals for Afghanistan.