Saturday, January 02, 2016
Kabul (BNA) The defending champions cruised into the final of SAFF Cup 2015 with a convincing 5-0 win over a defensive Sri Lanka who couldn’t deal with the intensity and passing of their opponents.
Goals from Hashemi, Taher, Amani, Hatifie and Captain Shayesteh made sure there would be no upset on the night as Afghanistan cruised to a 5-0 victory.
Afghanistan brought back key players who were rested against Maldives. Omid Popalzay, who impressed with a brilliant free kick in their game against Maldives, kept his place in the starting lineup. Rifnas Mohamed, who scored the crucial goal against Nepal in the last minute, started the game for Sri Lanka.
It was Sri Lanka that threatened the goal early on, with a ball over the top from skipper Ishan just missing the forward inside the box, after he had caught the Afghanistan defence sleeping.
Current top scorer Khaibar Amani failed to connect to two wonderful crosses around the halfway mark in the first half, which left the striker frustrated. Minutes later, he collected the first booking of the game for an alleged stamp on a Sri Lankan defender and it could have easily been a red card.
On the stroke of half time, Omid Popalzay shot over the bar in a game bereft of clear cut chances.Afghanistan continued to dominate possession and two minutes into injury time, a failed clearance of a corner was crossed back into the box, and it was flicked by Masih Saighani into the path of Sayed Hashemi who tapped the ball in to open the scoring for Afghanistan.
The defending champions did not have to wait for too long to extend their lead as Omid Popalzay’s lay off in the 51st minute found Kanischka Taher, who blasted the ball into the net to make it 2-0.
Only minutes later, a wild challenge by Hakeem on Omid Popalzay made the referee point to the spot. Khaibar Amani stepped up to coolly slot the spot kick into the net to increase his tally to 4 goals in SAFF Suzuki Cup 2015. In the 78th minute, the midfield maestro Kanischka Taher picked up Ahmad Hatifie with a terrific ball into the box for him to head it in to make it 4-0 to Afghanistan.
A good passing move resulted in Mustafa Zazai’s lay off finding Faysal Shayesteh inside the box, who hit the back of the net for the fifth of the night for Afghanistan.
Sri Lanka started the game with a plan but they couldn’t deal with the pressure exerted by the defending champions. In the end, Afghanistan had it easy and will now face hosts India in a massive final on January 3.
