Daka, Bangladesh: After more than a year, the Maldives National Football Team played an international match and achieved a historic 1-0 victory over Bangladesh, securing their first-ever away win against Bangladesh.
Coming to this game, Maldives had faced Bangladesh five times on their home soil, losing four of those encounters and drawing once, which was a friendly in 1995. The most recent match before tonight's victory was in October last year, when Maldives lost 2-1 to Bangladesh in a FIFA World Cup/Asian Cup joint qualifier - which was the last time Maldives National team played an international.
A tightly contested match between Bangladesh and Maldives at the Bashundhara Kings Arena was decided by a single goal, scored by Ali Fasir (Sentey). In the 18th minute, Hamza Mohamed (Hampu) delivered a free-kick cross, which Sentey met with a header to find the back of the net.
Maldives had a couple of good opportunities on the counter-attack to double their lead, but both Hamza and Sentey missed chances to secure a second goal.
Bangladesh were without their captain, Jamal Bhuyan, but still created several chances to take something from the match. Sohel Rana's effort in the dying moments of the first half struck the post, while Ahmed Fahim’s shot narrowly missed the target.
Maldives goalkeeper Hussain Shareef delivered a heroic performance, denying Sheikh Morsalin twice in the second half.
After the match, Maldives celebrated their historic win in style, dedicating the victory to the late Mohamed Arif (Baka), a former national team midfielder. Baka, who won the SAFF Championship twice with Maldives, tragically passed away five months ago.
Maldives will face Bangladesh again in their second FIFA friendly this Saturday evening.
