8 Oct. 2021 (Male’) – Veteran striker Ali Ashfaq’s early header proved to be the decisive goal as Maldives edged Sri Lanka 1-0 on MD 4 of the SAFF Championship 2021, being held in Male, Maldives.

The win gave Maldives six points from three matches and will face India in their last outing on Wednesday. For Sri Lanka the sojourn to Male ended with one point they earned from the draw with India.

Ashfaq’s header came in the sixth minute of the match when he glanced home Haisham Hassan’s feed inside the penalty box. Minutes before Ashfaq’s header found the back of the net, Sri Lanka were unlucky too see their goal flagged off for offside by the referee.

Maldives also had their share of frustration as Ali Fasir was denied by the cross bar twice, while H. Mohamed, who came in for Ali Ashfaq in the 73^rd minute, saw his attempt from close range with just the keeper to beat sail high above the cross bar. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, once again had their luck cursed as M. Mohammadu Naizer’s shot was denied by the cross bar in the 89^th minute.

After the match, Sri Lanka coach Amir Alegic said,” We are losing the games by a very small margin. Right now our midfield department doesn’t have the composure as the other teams who are passing the ball and keeping the ball possession. When we go home we need to sit with the technical department to find a way forward. Maldives dominated the match. They had the home support with them. So basically they had the 12^th player and they utilized that heavily.”

His counterpart Ali Suzain commented, “We wanted to get three points from this match. We have achieved the target and we have also learnt a lot of things from this match. The players were motivated for the win and were fighting for the result. In that respect, we are happy with what we have achieved.”