Lankans hold Afghans to a two all draw

7th SAFF Championship 2008:

Bernard Perera

The second game of the group 'B' of the SAFF Championship between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan ended in a two all draw at the Sugathadasa stadium under lights. It was one of the top games witnessed by the spectators after a long period.

The match got to a flying start with the well built Afghans making a strong bid to penetrate the defence of the local team. This proved results in only nine minutes in to the game when Garez Arian Habib scored through a free kick taken 25 metres away from the goal.

This brought pressure for the locals and they too adopted the attacking system. In less than a minute they were able to reap good results with skipper Chatura Maduranga who collected the ball in a melee slammed in the equaliser.

The teams returned to the pavilion with the scores on level terms. The second session began and as expected it was top class soccer displayed by both teams. This evenly balance game continued for ten minutes.

Once again it was Habib who came into the rescue of Afghans scoring his second goal of the match which also put his side in front. The batle continued with the local teams strikers E.B. Channa and Kasun Jaysuriya making every effort to net in the equaliser. All their attempts failed to produce results.

The luck turned in Lanka's way when an Afghan player was found guilty of rough play inside the danger area. This resulted in a penalty being awarded by referee Abdul Wahan of Malaysia to the local team. E.B. Channa made no mistake with his bullet like kick got past the goalie from the left side of the net to bring the scores onto level teams once again.

The final ten minutes of play was really interesting for every one present as both teams tried everything they had in store to take the lead but all their attempts were futile. Klause Staerk the coach of the Afghan team praised his side for putting up a gallant show against a top class team. He said I am a happy man today the boys did an excellent job. He also paid a tribute to the Lankan teams putting up a great show.

Jang Jung the Lankan coach too was impressed with yesterdays performance. He said the mistakes we made have to be corrected and produce a better performance to win the next game. The first game had to be stopped for few minutes as the lights were not switched on when the light was in a bad state for play to continue.

Bhutan-Bangladesh a draw

The opening game in the SAFF Championship Group 'B' between Bhutan and Bangladesh ended in a one all draw at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Bangladeshis entered the field as hot favourites for this game but could not match the Bhutanese as they expected. Bhutanese players covered their opponents well from the beginning and did not allow the Bangladeshis to penetrate easily, while doing so the Bhutanese made several good moves to have a bang at the goal.

In the first session of play Bhutan missed two easy scoring opportunities. But it was Bangladeshis who struck first in the 25th minute to take a 1-0 lead. It was Arup Kumar Badya who netted in the goal with a superb kick from the right wing which sailed through the far corner into the goal.

Bhutan once again made very good moves but could not find the correct target. In the 76th minute Nima Sanjay who collected a good ball slammed in the equaliser for Bhutan. During the balance period both teams failed to add anything to the score and the final whistle went with the score reading one all.

Imtiaz Ali shah of Pakistan controlled the game.

India trounce Nepal 4-0

India defeated Nepal 4 goals to nil in a Group 'A' fixture played in Male, Maldives on Tuesday in the SAFF championship's India led 1-0 at half time.

In the second game the hosts Maldives defeated Pakistan 3 goals to nil at the same venue. Maldives were in front at the breather 1-0.

Today India will confront Pakistan while Maldives take on Nepal. India is favoured to take the top position in this group.