Maldives bag first win in the championship
7 Oct. 2021 (Male') - Host and defending champions Maldives registered their first win in the SAFF Championship 2021 following their 2-0 win over Bangladesh, at the National Stadium in Male.
Two goals in the second half from Hamza Mohamed and Ali Ashfaq gave the home team the much needed relief in front of a partisan home crowd. The first match had seen Maldives succumbed to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hand of Nepal.
Mohamed opened the scoring for Maldives in the 55th minute when he beautifully connected Hussain Nihan's feed with a bicycle kick. The second for Maldives came from the penalty spot. Naiz Hassan was brought down by Soehl Rana inside the penalty box leaving the referee with no other option than to point to the spot. Maldives' most celebrated athlete Ali Ashfaq stepped in to do the honors, and he dutifully obliged, sending the goalie the wrong way.
With the goal, Ashfaq took his personal goal tally in the SAFF Championship to 21 goals.
Commenting on the match, Ashfaq said the win was a gift to Maldives for the National Day.
"The team winning is the most important thing, not how many goals I score as an individual player," he further added.