BENGALURU: Skipper Hassan Maatouk’s first-half goal lifted Lebanon to edge Maldives 1-0 and stormed into the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship semi-finals on Wednesday.
Maatouk gave Lebanon an early lead from a direct free-kick. He had luck in his favour as his attempt took a deflection off the defenders’ wall and caught the Maldives goalkeeper by surprise, who failed to stop the ball.
Mohamad Sadek missed the goal from close range after goal scorer Maatouk delivered a flawless cross, costing Lebanon a crucial chance to momentarily extend their advantage.
Having the scoreboard in their favour, Lebanon eased up a bit and allowed Maldives to make more threatening attempts but could not convert.
Following the first half, Lebanon again decided to be more aggressive and made several efforts in search of the second but the scoreboard remained intact and thus, the middle-east side ran away with the victory.
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The 1-0 victory over the Maldives marked their third straight win in the ongoing SAFF Championship and made their way into the semi-finals of the tournament.
Lebanon topped Group B standings with nine points in three matches and will take on hosts India in the second semi-final on June 1.
Notably, Lebanon remained the only team to win all their group fixtures in the ongoing SAFF Championship.
It is worth mentioning here that Bangladesh will take on Bhutan in the last group tie and have their semi-final berth fate in their own hands after Lebanon’s victory.
Bangladesh now sit at the second position in Group B with three points in two matches, followed by Maldives with as many points but in three matches.
Meanwhile, a victory would propel Bangladesh to the semi-final and even a draw will be enough for them.
Maldives, however, would want that Bangladesh to lose by a difference of at least two goals for them to progress to the semis.
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