Afghanistan's SAFF Cup title defence off to a flourishing start with 4-0 win over Bangladesh

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Afghanistan beat Bangladesh 4-0 in their opening match at the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship at the Trivandrum International Stadium today.

Entering the match as favourites, Afghanistan (FIFA rank 150) soon took a dominant position against a Bangladesh side (FIFA rank 182) that soon proved to be much weaker. The Bangladeshi defenders were not much of a match to the Afghan attackers in terms of pace and ball control and after half an hour of mostly one-sided traffic,  Masih Saighani opened the scoring. Merely 2 minutes later Faysal Shayesteh doubled the lead for Afghanistan.

In the second half Zubayr Amiri and Khaibar Amani added to the tally for Afghanistan as they ensured a 4-0 resounding victory for their country. The dozen or so supporters who had shown up to cheer their team soon found themselves in the embrace of the players.

This win takes Afghanistan to the top of the Group B. The defending champions have 3 points from 1 match, the same as Maldives, but are ahead by goal difference.

On 26th December, Bangladesh face Maldives in a potentially do-or-die match while Afghanistan are set to play Bhutan.