ISLAMABAD - Goal-scoring machine Ngangom Bala Devi helped India crush Afghanistan 12-0 in the Group A third and last encounter of the 3rd South Asian Women's Football Championship here at Pakistan Sports Complex, Jinnah Stadium on Monday.
Ngangom scored five goals including a hat-trick, while Indu Mathi Devi and Permashwari Devi also scored hat-tricks. Such was the Indian dominance, Afghan girls were not more than mere spectators. India started the goal rout in the third minute, as Indu Mathi Devi opened her account in the championship, second goal came in the very next minute, as Ngangom scored her first of the 5 she scored in the championship to take her goal tally to 1 dozen in the championship.
Indu Mathi Devi scored her second and team’s third goal in the seventh minute, before Ngangom stepped forward to score fourth goal in the 12th minute. Burrett then joined the party to score the team’s fifth goal in the 24th minute. Ngangom completed her hat-trick in the 33rd minute and scored her fourth and the team’s sixth goal in the 39th minute. Afghans misery continued unabated in the first half as Permashwari Devi scored the eighth goal of the first half.
In the second half, Indu completed her well-deserving hat-trick in the 51st minute to make it 9-0. Indians had to wait for another 17 long minutes for the 10th goal, as they missed a number of goal scoring chances in the next 15 minutes, which finally came through Permashwari Devi. Ngangom scored the team’s 11th and her fifth goal in the 84th minute. The scoreline completed in the 88th minute, when Permashwari completed her hat-trick to make it a dozen goals for the defending champions.
India will take on Sri Lanka in the first semifinal today (Tuesday) at 10am, while Bangladesh face Nepal in the second semifinal at 1:30pm.
In the second and last match of Group A, thanks to a superb brace by vice captain Sabina Khatoon, Bangladesh inflicted an upset 3-1 victory on Maldives. It was all Bangladesh in the first 45 minutes, enjoying lime share of possession, dictating terms at will. Bangladesh didn't have to wait long as Maynu Marma gave her team deserving lead in the 18th minute. Man of the match Sabina Khatoon then scored a goal in the 35th minute. The second half was a complete turnaround, as Maldives created a numerous goal-scoring opportunities, but all went in vain. Maldives hopes receive a huge boost in the 81st minute, when Aishath Sama indulged a new lease of life in the match by scoring a thunderous strike to make last 10 minutes interesting. Maldives launched barrage of attacks on Bangladeshi goal, putting extra players forward, which allowed Bangladesh room and space to counter attack.
Maldives hopes were ended in the 87th minute, when Sabina Khatoon completed to give Bangladesh an unassailable 3-1 lead, Bangladesh could have made it 4-1 had the thunderous strike not hit the poll in the dying moments of the match.
Sharing his views, Bangladesh head coach Naoko Kawamoto described his team lucky and termed Maldives highly talented side. He predicted Maldives would soon be a power house in Asia. “I have worked hard on current team which is now playing well. I am sure if the girls continue to play well in the semifinals against tough opponent like Nepal, they will have a real chance to inflict another upset victory.”