Maldives advance to the semi

Jan 14, 2016 - 08:16:15 |
Easa in action against Afghanistan. He opened the scoring against Bangladesh today. (Photo: Ibrahim Faid)

Dhaka, BANGLADESH – Maldives national football team has booked a place in the semi final of the ongoing Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh after beating hosts Olympic team by 2-0 today. Ismail Easa and Ahmed Imaz scored the two goals for the Maldives in the first half.

Maldives through to the semi final with one game in hand after winning the first two games in the group stage. Maldives is leading the group with six points from games while Bahrain lies on the second position of the table.

Ismail Easa broke the deadlock for the Maldives in the 16th minute from a good ball when Ahmed Nashid penetrated the defense line of Bangladesh and supplied it to him, which he puts into the net easily.

Ahmed Imaz increased the margin for the Maldives in the 22nd minute from a good shot inside the box.

Ahmed Nashid, Easa and Naiz missed few chances to score in the second half.

Maldives will play their final group game against Bahrain on Saturday.

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Fan on Jan 15
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Good performance. Most of all, a clean-sheet means something to build on confidence for the keeper and his under-fire defence. But as usual saw too many assadullas today as well. Can't we stop playing for ourselves and play for the team? If we stop this unnecessary, too much dribbling and play for the players in space who could convert chances easily we could have few more goals. On 60th minutes when he had had time to square for his teammate for what looked like an easy goal, Easa went on for his own glory only to make it too late for his shot and was blocked onrushing keeper and defender. If we could omit this distracting feature from our play and pass the ball to the best positioned player in goal scoring position we could have a lot more improved performances.
Boyko on Jan 15
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We can play a lot better than this - just dont get too nervous and try to play your normal game. Bangladesh u23 desperate for a goal was expected to have ball more in the closing stage and in our half but on 85 minute our ball possession percent to be 40 and theirs 60 was bit much in my view. We need to hold on to the ball better than this and just dont run aimlessly with the ball and then get knackered and surrender the initiative. And dont hoof the ball upfield to nobody in particular.
footballmad on Jan 15
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Great, we won! But what formation were we playing! The midfield needs to help the defence line a lot more before the opposition attacking moves reach the final pass. Adey worked his heart out but as a system, our midfielders were always chasing the ball rather than tracking back in time to form a defensive midfield wall to help the defenders. That big canyon of a hole in midfield needs to be got rid off.
Imma on Jan 15
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It's nice to see Ismail Easa finally thriving for the national team. I feel that he's one of the most intelligent players in terms of movement and playmaking. He is one of those players often overlooked by previous management, but ever since moving to Eagles he's been like a revelation. I hope he really knuckles down and maintain his fitness levels this season, instead of playing in useless futsal tournaments for MPL. I think a change in his attitude off the pitch will result in him turning into one hell of a footballer. Oh, and we kept a clean sheet this match! When was the last time that happened?
Offside on Jan 15
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Well played. Not conceding a goal all the better.

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