Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Thimphu: Skipper Ali Ashfaq scored a hat-trick to help the Maldives beat Bhutan 4-3 in their FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint qualifying match at the Changlimithang Stadium on Thursday.
The 2008 South Asian champions had a healthy 3-0 lead at the break but the hosts almost earned a share of the spoils after a brave second-half fightback.
Ahmed Nasheed opened the scoring after 11 minutes before Maldives skipper Ali Ashfaq, who was yellow carded just three minutes into the game, opened his qualifying campaign scoring book in the 23rd minute to double the lead.
The 30-year-old veteran striker then doubled his tally 10 minutes later to give Ricki Herbert-led Maldives a 3-0 advantage at the break.
Ashfaq, who plays his club football for Malaysian Super League side PDRM FA, duly clinched his triple with a penalty seven minutes after the interval before the hosts’ scored three times in the final five minutes to come close to denying the Indian Ocean islanders their first Group C victory.
Tshering Dorji reduced the deficit on the 85th minute mark before Bhutan scored again through Chencho Gyeltshen just three minutes later. Biren Basnet struck one minute into stoppage time but Norio Tsukitate’s side ran out of time as the Maldives hung on to claim their first win of the qualifiers.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
NEXT FIXTURES:
October 13: Bhutan v Hong Kong
October 13: Qatar v Maldives