Prezen Tamang and Suman Aryal scored twice each and Laxman Pariyar added one goal for Nepal's victory. Nepal had already scored 3-0 before the interval.
Nepal, which adopted offensive approach, took lead as early as in the third minute. Laxman put Nepal ahead utilizing Abishek Aryal's corner. Taking the match under control, Nepal achieved second goal in the 18th minute after Prezen converted Abishek's back pass. Three minutes later, Suman made a brilliant header to send Kshitiz Raj GT's corner at the back of net making it 3-0. Despite piling consistent pressure, Nepal could not score other goals in the remaining time of the first half.
Prezen made it 4-0 in the 57th minute to score his second individual goal. Nepal kept on attacking but failed to score on number of occasions as Maldives goalkeeper made some fine saves in the second half. Suman sealed the victory in the second half injury as Nepal wrapped 5-0 win.
Nepal will now face Afghanistan in the second and last Group B match on Friday.
After the match, Nepal coach Upendra Man Singh said that the result was far better than expectations of his side. "I had thought it would be one goal margin win against Maldives. However, we were looking for full three points and we achieved that," said Singh. He added that the match against Afghanistan would be tougher than this.
Meanwhile, Maldives coach Mohamed Shahid congratulated Nepal for the convincing win. "The result was unexpected and the Nepali side was physically superior to us. I want to congratulate Nepal for the win," he said.
Similarly, Nepal skipper Manish Karki said that the result has filled his side with optimism of winning the title.
PHOTOS: ANFA
Nepali eves make flying start to SAFF c’ship
