India secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Maldives in their last group stage match of the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2018 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday. Nikhil Poojary and Manvir Singh found their name on the scoresheet, as both the youngsters scored their maiden goal for the country.

Maldives appeared to be on the front foot in the opening minutes, as the Blue Tigers grappled for momentum. In the 9th minute, the woodwork saved Maldives the blushes as Mohamed Arif’s header almost found his own net. Minutes later, finding Vishal Kaith off his line, Akram Ghanee tried to send the ball over, but India’s No. 1 managed to trace back on time to tip it over.

Both Poojary and Farukh Choudhary missed chances in the first 30 minutes, but combined together brilliantly in the 37th minute to give India the lead. Poojary cut past a number of defenders and played a brilliant one-two with Farukh before calmly slotting the ball past the keeper to register his maiden international goal.

With the half-time whistle on the horizon, India doubled up their lead, this time through Manvir. The FC Goa forward took advantage of Maldives’ defensive error to rush forward inside the penalty box, side-step the goalkeeper and slot the ball into an empty net. That proved to be the last bit of action as India entered the breather with a two-goal cushion.

The second period started on an even note with Maldives trying to find spaces to hit home. Both Farukh and Poojary continued to keep Maldives on their toes, but failed to add another to the scoreline. Head coach Stephen Constantine soon made a couple of substitutions, bringing in Sumeet Passi and Hitesh Sharma into the mix to give them a taste of the action.

Maldives, however, put all their men forward in search of an elusive goal which would see them comfortably reaching the semi-finals above Sri Lanka, but India firmly held their ground. After a number of free-kicks and shots off target, the referee blew the final whistle to end proceedings. With the win, the defending champions have topped Group B and will face Pakistan in the semi-finals.