Dhaka, December 5:
Maldives stumbled on the first block as spirited Nepal came back from behind to hold the defending champions to a 1-1 draw in the group B match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Saturday.
Maldives was disorganized and looked tired while Nepal displayed a fighting brand of football from the very beginning unsettling their opponents all through the game. Maldives took the lead against the run of the play but Nepal’s attacking attitude paid off and they forced a creditable draw.
Rohit Chad the Nepalese midfielder drew the first blood in the 6th minute as he sneaked through the Maldives defence with a long ball but saw his grounder whisker past the side post.
Maldives cornered by the pressure of their Himalayan opponents relied upon the counter attack strategy and in the 36th minute Ibrahim Fazeel was looking the sky about what went wrong when his fierce drive was punched to safety by Nepal custodian Bikash Malla.
Nepal continued their onslaught after the resumption and Chetan Ghimire the speedy Nepalese forward tested Maldives custodian Mohammed Imran twice but failed to find the net.
Maldives took the lead with a swift counter attack in the 61st minute as Ashfan Ahmed danced down the right flank and curved a nice cross to Ahmed Thoriq who kept his cool to dislodge his marker and the Nepalese custodian and placed the ball into the far post.
Nepal refused to give up and restored the parity in the 69th minute through Jumanu Rai. Substitute midfielder Yogesh Shreshta dipped in a long ball in the 18 yard box to Jumanu who reacted quickly to volley the ball past Imran at the far post.
Imran saved his team in the dying minutes with an acrobatic save punching Anil Gurung’s 20 yarder for a corner.