Home ›› 08 Sep 2022 ›› Sport
Bangladesh Under-17 National Team striker Mirajul Islam hit a hat-trick on Wednesday to help them thrash Maldives 5-0 in the SAFF U17 Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka and qualify for the semi-finals.
The other two goals came from Nazmul Huda Faysal and Murshed Ali.
Bangladesh now have six points from two games as they thrashed hosts Sri Lanka 5-1 in their opening match of the tournament.
Bangladesh took their match against Maldives by the scruff of its neck as they opened the scoring in the fourth minute. Mirajul found himself free in the left side of Maldives’ penalty box, and with an easy cutback, found Faysal who tapped in to give Bangladesh the lead.
Maldives tried to come back to the game, but Murshed, after receiving a long ball on the left wing, cut inside and provided a pinpoint near-post finish to make it 2-0.
In the second half, Faysal returned Mirajul’s favour from the first half as he found the latter free in the box, and Mirajul made it 3-0 in the 74th minute with a beautiful curling finish.
Four minutes later, Mirajul was free on the left wing during a counter-attack and was found. Getting the ball, he cut in and beat the Maldives goalkeeper with power to make it 4-0.
Mirajul put the final nail in the coffin and picked up his hat-trick in the stoppage time of the game after he got the ball in the box after a well-worked corner. His first shot was blocked but scored on the rebound to make it 5-0.
