Dhaka, January 16: Maldives topped the group B of Bangabandhu Gold Cup with a 1-1 draw against Bahrain at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Saturday. With the draw Maldives secured seven points and Bahrain five, Bahrian will play the first semifinal on Monday against Bangladesh while It will be an all sub-continental semifinal between Maldives and Nepal on Tuesday.

Bahrian came close to break the deadlock in the 11th minute when midfielder Mohammed Alinar’s fierce free kick from about 25 yards was punched to safety by Maldives goalie Faisal Mohammed who had to stretch to his limit to punch the ball for a corner.

However it was Maldives who struck first. Enforcing enormous pressure Maldives drew the first blood in the 18th minute, just after Ibrahim Ansar’s chip bounced back from the Bahraini crosspiece, he collected the ball again, went past his marker before cutting a low cross to Imaaz Ahmed who placed the ball into the middle of the net (1-0).

Bahrain restored the parity in the 58th minute with Mohammed Alinar cutting the killer cross to forward Anwar Ali who headed the ball past onrushing Maldives goalie Faisal Mohammed into the top corner of the net (1-1)