Nepal has stunned the hosts of the SAFF Championship 2021, the Maldives after grabbing a 1-0 win in the second match of the tournament.
The Maldives, hosts and reigning champions, fielded a strong starting 11 with talisman Ali Ashfaq leading the attack and experienced players in both midfield and the defense.
The home team, playing in front of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who were in attendance to watch the match, created several openings in the first 45 minutes with Ashfaq going close to breaking the deadlock.
Nepal too spurned several chances and the first half ended with the score level at 0-0.
The Nepalese team began the second half strongly and created several chances before the Maldivian grew into the game and created attacking chances of their own.
Both coaches brought several changes to the respective starting 11s with the score still tied at the 80th minute.
But on the 86th minute, Nepal surged forward in a quick counter-attack and scored the only goal of the match. The winner was scored by Manish Dangi.
Nepal hanged on to record a famous win on Maldivian soil and move to the top of the table and are level with Bangladesh who won against Sri Lanka earlier.
