Defending champion Afghanistan played the two periods in contrasting styles and yet came out with an easy win against Maldives in a Group B match of the SAFF Suzuki Cup football tournament at the Greenfield stadium here on Monday.
The 4-1 win saw Afghanistan top the group with three wins and earned the right to play Sri Lanka in the semifinals. Maldives will play host India in the other semifinal on Thursday.
After having ensured qualification from the group, the Afghan coach chose to experiment and made seven changes to the squad which played against Bhutan.
The changes seemed to have backfired when Maldvies had more of the ball and created chances early in the first half. Fasir Ali was a constant menace to the Afghan defence and he induced a good save from the Afghan goalkeeper in the 14th minute.
A fast counter-attack by Maldives saw Nashid Ahmed relay the ball to Fasir Ali whose shot was intercepted for a corner. The corner was headed out by Asadullah as the Afghan goal survived some anxious moments.
The opening Afghan goal came against the run of play when Zubayr Amri won a mid-air duel and headed the ball into the path of captain Faysal Shayesteh, who scored with a clinical finish.
Maldives, however, refused to be cowed down and attacked with verve. Fasir stole the ball from Anosh Dastgri to enter the penalty box, round the goalkeeper and score the equaliser in the 31st minute.
However, a superbly taken free-kick from 25 yards by Omid Popalzay restored the lead for the Afghans in the 34th.
Afghanistan struck rhythm early in the second half and harried the Maldives defence with well coordinated moves. Ahamad Arash Hatifie underlined his side’s supremacy in the 51st minute when he volleyed home from the top of the box as the half-cleared ball off a corner kick came to him.
Three minutes later Afghanistan increased the lead as Omid Popalzay gave finishing touches to a well-orchestrated move. Zubyr Amri hit the post in the 67th minute and he was again denied by a good save from Imran in the 82nd minute.
Earlier, a brace from striker Shakawat H. Rony (24th & 66th) enabled Bangladesh down 10-man Bhutan 3-0 for a consolation win.
Playing with freedom, Bangladesh was up and running in the eighth minute when Topu Barman headed in the opening goal following a corner. Nepal responded positively and Chencho Gyeltshen shot out narrowly in the 19th minute.
However, Bhutan was reduced to 10-men in the 22nd minute after Chimi Dorji was shown the red card by Indian referee Pranjal Banerjee for bringing down Hemontha Biswas.
Rony sent the Bhutan goalkeeper Hari Gurung the wrong way to increase the lead for Bangladesh.
Hari Gurung denied Rony in the 40th and Gyeltshen had a chance to reduce the lead in the 44th minute but the striker couldn’t control the ball inside the box.
In the second half, Tshering Dorji’s stinging right footer was parried away by Bangla goalkeeper Shahid in the 62nd minute. However, it didn’t take long for Bangladesh to increase the lead as Rony found the back of the net in the 66th with a clinical finish after receiving a long ball from the middle.
Bangladesh wasted several chances to increase the lead in the remaining time.
(The Hindu)
