With the win, India became runner-up in group ´A´ of which Pakistan is the winner. Pakistan had defeated India 1-0 and Maldives 6-0 in the earlier matches of the group.[break]
Laldant Sanga scored a brace in the match while Daniel Lalhlimpuia, Raja Rawat and Prokash Majumdar netted one goal each to seal an impressive victory for India.
India dominated the match from beginning till the end, but had to wait till the half hour mark to open the score.
Rawat´s powerful shot from the edge in the 14th minute went inches wide and Germanpreet Singh´s 25-yard strike also could not take the right direction.
Daniel Lalhlimpuia scored the first goal for India in the 31st minute. Maldivian goalkeeper Shareef Ibrahim Laban could not grip the ball in a powerful shot from Nabin Rabha and Lalhlimpuia utilized it.
Rawat doubled the tally five minutes after scoring the first one. Hapless Maldivian custodian Laban has no answer to the superb 30-yard strike from Rawat.
Laban made a couple of saves to deny Lalhlimpuia and Lalramzauva in the 44th minute but Sanga made it 3-0 in the injury time of the first half. Sanga met Lalramzauva´s acute cross in the box and fired into the net.
Sanga added another goal in the 53rd minute in a cross off Majumdar. Majumdar made it 5-0 in the 63rd minute through a solo effort and sealed the match for India.
Maldives made some charges on the Indian goalpost but could not score. The best chance for Maldivians was in the 78th minute, but Indian glovesman Agiapal Singh brilliantly punched a 20-yard strike from Sizaan Ahmed.
“The ground was muddy because of overnight rain, but the boys played much well despite the ground condition,” said Maldives Coach Ihusan Abdul Ghani. He was happy with the performance of his team. “India was physically strong side, but I´m happy to see my boys getting better day by day,” said Ghani.
“Hopefully we´ll be able to win the play-off match for the fifth place,” he added. Ghani said that his team would do the best not to be at the bottom of the tournament.
Indian Coach Thomas Joseph said that the match was good but one sided. “We are in the semifinal. It does not matter who will be against us, we´ll play to win,” said Joseph when asked about the chance of facing Nepali squad in the semifinal.
Nepal to take on Sri Lanka
Host Nepal is to take on Sri Lanka on Saturday in its last group stage match. The match will decide the fate of both the teams in the tournament as Bangladesh has already qualified for the semifinals from the group.
Bangladesh had defeated Sri Lanka 6-2 and played a goalless draw against Nepal. Nepal has better opportunity to book spot in the semifinal as it could make it even if it plays a draw against Sri Lanka.
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