SAFF Cup: Ali Ashfaq At The Double As Maldives Beat Afghansitan

The holders needed three second half goals to defeat Afghanistan...

Dec 8, 2009 1:22:26 AM

More On :  Afghanistan, Maldives
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Holders Maldives bounced back from their surprising 1-1 draw in the first game against Nepal, by beating Afghanistan 3-1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka in a Group A match of the 2009 SAFF Cup on Monday afternoon to register their first win of the competition.
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The Afghans took a shock lead through Hashmatullah Barkezai in the first half but Ahmed Toriq equalised for the champions seven minutes into the second period and then a brace from Ali Ashfaq gave Maldives a much needed victory.

Maldives came into this game as favorites and so were keen to get an early goal. They started attacking from the very start with strikers Ali Ashfaq and Ahmed Toriq looking to get behind the Afghan defence.

The first real chance of the game fell to Toriq who was well setup in the box by Umair Mohammed. But the Maldives goalscorer from the last game failed to hit the target.

Afghanistan also had a good opportunity in the early stages when Sayed Bashir picked out Israfeel Kohistani with an accurate cross but Kohistani couldn’t direct his header properly.

The champions hit the woodwork in the 18th minute when Ibrahim Fazeel’s header from a Ashfaq Ali cross struck the post and the rebound was collected by the Afghan keeper.

Maldives started dominating the game and created two more promising openings but couldn’t convert any of them. The first of those resulted from an Ali Ashfaq freekick, which was well saved by the Afghan custodian.

A few minutes later, some fine interplay between Ali Ashfaq and Mukhtar Naseer gave the latter a clear sight of goal but he couldn’t control the ball properly and the chance was gone.

Maldives were having their best spell of the half but Afghanistan scored against the run of play. A counter attack from the Afghans created confusion in the Maldives box that allowed Hashmatullah Barkezai to take a shot at goal which caught out keeper Mohammad Imran and gave Afghanistan the lead.

The body language of the Maldives team changed as they looked short on confidence and were unable to create any good chance before half time.

The holders regrouped after the break and got the equalizer seven minutes into the second half. A corner from Mukhtar Naseer was initially won by Ibrahim Fazeel and then another header from Ahmed Toriq leveled the scores.

Toriq’s second goal of the tournament rejuvenated the entire Maldives team but Afghanistan were always looking dangerous on the break and nearly regained their lead when Barkezai came close with a powerful shot.

Maldives were creating the better chances on the other end and finally went ahead in the 70th minute when star striker Ali Ashfaq capitalized on a defensive lapse and slotted the ball past the Afghan keeper.

After taking the lead Maldives played a much more controlled game and were a little cautious at the back.

Afghanistan kept fighting but Ali Ashfaq killed off the game two minutes from time by scoring his second of the match.

The win eliminates Afghanistan from the group stage while Maldives temporarily move to the top of Group A.

Goalscorers: Hashmatullah Barkezai (Afghanistan) 32’, Ahmed Toriq (Maldives) 52’, Ali Ashfaq (Maldives) 70’, 88’

Amoy Ghoshal
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