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Guided by forward Anju Tamang's four goals and Dangmei Grace's brace, India routed Maldives with a brilliant 9-0 win in the SAFF Women’s Championship at the Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Saturday, September 10. This victory ensures that India have safe passage to the semifinals, having beaten bitter rivals Pakistan 3-0 in the opening match of their campaign.
India had earlier beaten Pakistan 3-0 in their tournament opener on Monday.
The Maldives defence found it hard to keep the Blue Tigresses at bay, with the team winning earned four corners in the first 10 minutes itself. They surged into the lead in the 24th minute. Tamang and Ranjana
Chanu worked on a short corner, and the former cut inside and took a shot that dipped into the top corner.
One goal up, the Blue Tigresses pressed forward and doubled their lead through Priyanka, who smashed home a cross from Ashalata Devi. Anju added a third just seconds before the half-time whistle when she tapped in a rebound that came off a powerful shot by Ratanbala Devi.
After the change-over, Tamang struck two more goals in the 85th and 88th minutes, while Dangmei Grace (53rd and 86th), Soumya Guguloth (55th) and Kashmina (84th) were the other scorers.
In the 53rd minute, Dangmei Grace also joined the scoresheet when she rounded the goalkeeper and poked it home. Minutes later, substitute Soumya Guguloth made it 5-0, tapping in a cross by captain Ashalata Devi.
With the pressure on Maldives' defensive third, the team completely crumbled. In the last 10 minutes of regulation time, substitute Kashmina Rai got her name on the scoresheet when her long-ranger was spilt over the line by the Maldives keeper.
A minute later, the Maldives custodian again spilt a cross from Ranjana Chanu, and Anju Tamang was on hand to complete her hat-trick. Dangmei Grace made it 8-0 with a long-ranger, and with two minutes of regulation time left on the clock, Anju completed the rout nodding in a Ranjana cross.
India next plays their last group stage match against Bangladesh on September 13.
