SAFF Cup final, as it happened: India lose 1-2 to Maldives
Ibrahim Hussain scored the first goal for Maldives, dinking the ball over Vishal Kaith.

Live blog of India versus Maldives in the SAFF Cup final
INDIA 1-2 MALDIVES
Maldives:
Ibrahim Hussain (21’)
Ali Fasir (66’)
India:
Sumeet Passi (90+2’)
Stephen Constantine: “Let’s not forget that this is a very young team. This will be a good learning experience for them. I am proud of what they did in this competition.”
Full-time and its 2-1 to Maldives.
India fail to defend their title. They were lackadaisical and second best on the evening.
FULL TIME 🇲🇻 2-1 🇮🇳
— SAFF Suzuki Cup (@SAFFSuzukiCup) September 15, 2018
Maldives are SAFF Suzuki Cup 2018 winners 🏆 pic.twitter.com/zbU4jDQ81L
90+2’: GOAALLL!! India 1-2 Maldives
It’s Sumeet Passi with the goal! Poojary with a low cross which the Jamshedpur man converts. Three minutes for India to find an equaliser.
90’: India 0-2 Maldives
Five minutes added on. Maldives are close to clinching a second SAFF Cup title.
🇲🇻2-0🇮🇳
— SAFF Suzuki Cup (@SAFFSuzukiCup) September 15, 2018
Maldives are minutes away from a memorable win. Does this game have any more surprises in store?#SAFFSuzukiCup 🏆 #MDVvsIND pic.twitter.com/IWXQyijro9
88’: India 0-2 Maldives
A lack of imagination from India, as their attack’s been thwarted all evening. Still, no shots on target for the Blue Tigers.
Run along the flanks. Cross. Repeat. Pretty much all of India's tactics.
— Somnath Sengupta (@baggiholic) September 15, 2018
84’: India 0-2 Maldives
Maldives with another attack, as India are carved open far too easily. This is terrible defending, and Kaith will be happy the shot’s not on target.
79’: India 0-2 Maldives
Everyone misses Hitesh’s corner. No one can get on the end of it. Subhasish Bose was closest and knows that was a chance missed.
79' Oh @Subhasishbose17!!! Hitesh takes a curler and it bounces inches away from the unmarked skipper. A mild tap in and it could have brought India back into the match.
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 15, 2018
MDV 2-0 IND#MDVvIND #BackTheBlue #AsianDream #SaffSuzukiCup
73’: India 0-2 Maldives
Anirudh Thapa is hooked, as Hitesh Sharma comes on. India are running out of time to salvage this.
65’: GOAALLL!! India 0-2 Maldives
Sarthak Golui with a terrible mistake, playing Ali Fasir online. The Maldives man calmly slots it past Kaith. India have a mountain to climb, as Sumeet Passi comes on.
61’: India 0-1 Maldives
Stephen Constantine having a chat with Shanmugham Venkatesh. Who will come on next?
54’: India 0-1 Maldives
Not ‘brilliant’ as the Indians are yet to have a shot on target. Faisal’s work has been straightforward this evening.
54' @MaldivesFA goalie Faisal comes up with back-to-back brilliant saves to deny the Indians.
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 15, 2018
MDV 1-0 IND#MDVvIND #BackTheBlue #AsianDream #SaffSuzukiCup
50’: India 0-1 Maldives.
The Blue Tigers haven’t shown any urgency tonight. Constantine will hope that the introduction of Germanpreet Singh can change that. Davinder Singh is off.
HALF TIME 🇲🇻1-0🇮🇳
— SAFF Suzuki Cup (@SAFFSuzukiCup) September 15, 2018
Maldives lead by one goal in the final. This is the first time India have trailed in this edition of the competition. Can the defending champions make a comeback in the second half?#SAFFSuzukiCup 🏆 #MDVvsIND pic.twitter.com/kzqKgMlmoR
46’: India 0-1 Maldives
We kick-off for the second half.
Half-time and Maldives lead 1-0.
India, not having trailed throughout the competition, have gone behind and will hope to level things up.
45'+1' @sarthakgolui16 takes a pretty long throw-in but the resultant cross hovers over the woodwork.
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 15, 2018
MDV 1-0 IND#MDVvIND #BackTheBlue #AsianDream #SaffSuzukiCup
43’: India 0-1 Maldives
Poojary’s deliveries have been wayward throughout this half. Shoddy crosses as India continue to play throughout the right. Meanwhile, D-Sport with a well-timed break before half-time.
We're half an hour into the game and our team looks to be in great form. Come on! #AharengeTeam #MDVvsIND #SAFFSuzkukiCup pic.twitter.com/Jh1G644mH3
— Bank of Maldives (@bankofmaldives) September 15, 2018
37’: India 0-1 Maldives
Poojary does all the work, gets to the byline and puts in a cross which is pouched by the keeper.
CLINICAL ⚽️
— SAFF Suzuki Cup (@SAFFSuzukiCup) September 15, 2018
Ibrahim Mahudee Hussain putting Maldives 🇲🇻 ahead in the final. #SAFFSuzukiCup 🏆 #MDVvsIND pic.twitter.com/wAP47jqm3W
33’: India 0-1 Maldives
Manvir with the snap-shot after some confusion in the box, but he doesn’t trouble Akram Ghanee.
25’: India 0-1 Maldives
India taking speculative long shots. Thapa concedes a foul and the referee gives him a stern warning.
#SAFFSuzukiCup final: #Maldives 🇲🇻 1-0 🇮🇳 #India (19’) #MaldivesFootball #MDVvsIND pic.twitter.com/sHvn6Xfh2e
— maldivesfootball.com (@mdvfootball) September 15, 2018
19’: GOALLL!! India 0-1 Maldives
India find themselves in unfamiliar territory, having gone behind for the first time in this tournament. A ball is threaded through to Ibrahim Hussain, and he dinks it over Vishal Kaith.
15’: India 0-0 Maldives
Both sides sloppy at the start and concede cheap possession. Constantine showing his frustration at his side’s inability to keep the ball.
9' Ashique, on his signature pace, unleashes a low cross but it fails to find any of his teammates
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 15, 2018
MDV 0-0 IND#MDVvIND #BackTheBlue #AsianDream #SaffSuzukiCup
5’: India 0-0 Maldives
Thapa with the short corner, rolls it to Poojary who delivers a ball onto the head of Salam Ranjan Singh. The defender can’t connect cleanly to it.
1’: India 0-0 Maldives
We have kick-off!
Manvir Singh 🇮🇳 leads the goalscoring charts with just the final to go. Can Ibrahim Waheed 🇲🇻 catch up? Or could we have a surprise late entry into this list from either side? #MDVvsIND #SAFFSuzukiCup pic.twitter.com/1zciWLnxIZ
— SAFF Suzuki Cup (@SAFFSuzukiCup) September 14, 2018
6:20 pm: Constantine names an unchanged line-up for the final. Subhasish Bose will be the captain tonight, as Manvir Singh and Farukh Chowdhury start up front for India. Remember, Manvir scored two goals against Pakistan in the semi-final, as India managed a 3-1 win.
Starting XI for India vs Maldives. Kick-off time 6.30 PM IST.#AsianDream #BackTheBlue #WeAreIndia#SAFFSuzukiCup pic.twitter.com/djX8EQcouP
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 15, 2018
Welcome to the Field’s live blog of the SAFF Cup final. India are set to take on Maldives at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka.