Bangladesh Thrash Maldives 5-0 to Reach Semi-Final

Bangladesh reached the semi-finals of the SAFF U-17 Championship thrashing the Maldives by 5-0 goals today at Sri Lanka's race course stadium.

Paul Smalley's side reached the semi-finals as the group champion with six points after two consecutive wins in 'A' group. Bangladesh will play against the runners-up team of 'B' group in the last four clash on September 12.

Mirazul Islam scored a hat trick today for Bangladesh. He scored all three goals in the second half. Miraz scored two goals in 74-77 minutes. In both goals, the forward entered the box from the left end and beat the goalkeeper behind the defenders.

Mirazul completed his hat-trick by scoring another goal in the added time.

Miraz's waiting time increased to 74 minutes, but Bangladesh got a goal today within 5 minutes. Earlier, the team took the lead within 5 minutes in the first match against Sri Lanka. Today, Nazmul Huda Faisal opened the scoring from a coordinated attack.

In the 37th minute, Morshed Ali, the double goal scorer of the previous match, crossed the defender from the left side and entered the box, then beat the goalkeeper and netted the ball. Bangladesh went into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Bangladesh got three more goals in the second half thanks to Mirazul.