Draw ends Abahani’s hopes

Last edition's zonal semifinalists Abahani failed to get out of the preliminary qualifying round of the AFC Cup following a goalless draw against hosts Maziya at the National Football Stadium in Male yesterday.

Maziya advanced to the playoffs of the second-tier club competition of Asia, thanks to two away goals they scored in their 2-2 draw against Abahani in the first leg a week earlier.

Six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani needed a win or a big-scoring draw to get the better of Maziya, but the Sky Blues never looked like a side capable of beating the Maldivians on their home ground where Abahani had suffered defeats against Maziya and New Radiant in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The charges of Mario Lemos, however, looked better in the first half of the game with better ball possession and good defending due to the inclusion of central defender Tutul Hossain Badsha in place of Nasir Chowdhury, but they lacked cutting edge in the attacking third as Sunday Chizoba and Nabib Newaj Jibon chased the ball throughout the game while Kervens Belfort had some brilliant moves, but found no one in support.

Abahani had the first shot on target in the 27th minute when Belfort played the ball to Sunday, who hit straight to goalkeeper Ovays Azizi while Belfort himself failed to connect to a well-judged free-kick from Mamunul Islam from the edge of the six-yard box on half-hour mark.

Maziya came close to breaking the deadlock in the stoppage time of the first half but Shahidul Alam Sohel brilliantly parried a curling shot from Ibrahim Mahudhee.

After resumption, Abahani totally failed to keep the tempo and Maziya dominated the first 30 minutes. Abahani were lucky not to concede, thanks to a brilliant save by Badsha while Sohel made at least two excellent saves.

With long-serving Sunday failing to have any impact upfront, Belfort worked really hard to create an opening as the Haitian entered the box from the left flank to dance past three defenders before providing a cut-back to substitute Rubel Miya, who incredibly drove wide of target in the 81st minute.

In the stoppage time of the second half, Abahani's stand-in-captain Sohel Rana got involved in an altercation with Maziya coach Marjan Sekulovski, who tried to stop the midfielder from picking the ball at the by-line before a Maziya player pushed Rana outside the pitch.

Following the incident, Abahani officials also came off the bench to argue with the match officials and one of the coaching staff of Maziya was sent off, but Abahani could not find the target after resumption and had to be content with back-to-back draws.