India bounce back, Pakistan in last four

India roared back in the race for third South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship, thrashing Afghanistan 4-0 in their second Group A match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Rookie forward Ashim Biswas and substitute midfielder Alvito D'Cunha scored two apiece to keep the semifinal hopes of the defending champions alive.

Pakistan meanwhile have already made it into the last four from this group with a 2-1 victory against Sri Lanka in the first match of the day with Zahid Niaz and Sharfaraz Rasool scoring after the break.

India, who tasted their first ever defeat (1-0) against bitter rivals Pakistan in the opening match of the eight-nation regional meet, made light work of an inexperienced Afghanistan team that has returned to international soccer after a long time. They led the first half 1-0.

Ashim Biswas, opened the Indian scoring tapping a Jo Paul Anchery back-header from close. It was the first international goal for the young striker, who made his international debut only in the previous match.

The 19-year-old forward from Kolkata then doubled the margin in the 63rd minute with an excellent headwork from a long throw from substitute Abhay Kumar.

Substituting Venkatesh in the 72nd minute, Alvito then struck twice within a space of eight minutes. The Mumbai midfielder gave a perfect finishing touch to an Ashim minus in the 77th minute with his lethal left foot. His left foot did the scoring once more when he blasted the ball home from the top of the box in the 85th minute.

Veteran striker IM Viyjayan had a disappointing outing for the second match running. He missed three sitters before India's under-pressure English coach Stephan Constantine replaced him with Abhishek Yadav.

But despite the comprehensive victory India still have to draw, if not win, their final group A match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, to advance into the semifinals. Both India and Sri Lanka have a collection of three points, but the formers maintain a superior scoring rate.

In the today's Group B matches, hosts Bangladesh face Maldives and Nepal take on Bhutan.

Yellow card: Climax Lawrence (India).

TEAMS

India: Naseem Akhter, Renedy Singh, Jo Paul Anchery, Ashim Biswas, Venkatesh (Alvito), Debjit Ghosh, Suresh, Roberto Fernandes, Sameer Naik (Abhay Kumar), IM Vijayan (Abhishek) and Climax Lawrence.

Afghanistan: Jamshid, Najib, Zia, Omar, Rahil, Nasir, Obaidullah, Reza (Farid), Rohllah, Basir and David (Nabiullah).

Referee: Budhi Bahadur Gurung (Nepal).