Dhaka, Dec 07
Ashfaq Ali, the Maldives captain lead from the front to score a brace as his team staged a brilliant comeback beating Afghanistan 3-1 in the group A match of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship at the BNS on Monday.
Physically strong Afghanistan applied a power based game from the very beginning and unsettled the defending champions. Maldives however showed the perfect professional temperament never giving out and at last they were the conquerors.
Ashfaq Ali, the mercurial skipper midfielder was in the heart of all the attacks and he inspired the team with his two late strikes to present Maldives the first victory of the meet after a disappointing 1-1 tie against Nepal in the first match.
Maldives drew the first blood in the 18th minute as Ibrahim Fazeel’s header off a Nasser Mukhtar cross bounced back to the game after hitting the right hand post. Afghanistan mounted pressure and reaped the result in the 31st minute when Hashmatullah Barkezai, the agile midfielder burst through the midfield and unleashed a fierce drive for the edge of the box that slipped from the gloves of Maldives custodian Mohammed Imran to roll over the goal line.
Ahmed Thoriq pulled Maldives back into the game seven minutes after the resumption Nasser Mukhtar curved a corner from the right flank flag and Ibrahim Fazeel headed it towards Thoriq who tapped it home from handshaking distance.
Then the Maldives skipper rose on the occasion. After a combined attack from the midfield Ashfaq’s shrewd placing off a goal mouth melee gave Afghanistan goalie
Hamidullah no chance to react.
Afghanistan looked dishearten after conceding the second goal and the professional Maldives exploited the scenario. They continued the attack and four minutes from the stipulated time Ashfaq galloped through the midfield with a solo effort and drilled a low shot past the Afghan custodian to spark wild celebration in the Maldives tent.